Supporting the drawdown

Photo By Rob Strain | Staff Sgt. Shawn Harris, a Shreveport, La., native with the 1083rd Transportation Company, 264th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, checks bumper numbers on heavy equipment transport trucks several days prior to a mission.  

TIKRIT, IRAQ

10.16.2009

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Rob Strain 

15th Sustainment Brigade

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Iraq —Soldiers from the 1083rd Transportation Company, a National Guard unit from Louisiana, are jumping at the opportunity to run missions.

With talk of leaving, packing up and withdrawal from Iraq, the unit's work is truly just beginning, said 1st Lt. Reginald Davis, the company's executive officer.

"The withdrawal out of Iraq is one of the largest movements of manpower and equipment in our modern military history, and the 1083rd TC is right in the middle of assisting and making it happen," Davis, a Shreveport, La., native said.

A heavy equipment transport company, the unit provides adaptive heavy equipment transport capabilities, Davis explained. The capabilities include staging onward movement, integration, retrograde, and sustainment operations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as well as a full range of joint military operations.

The 1083rd relocates heavy equipment on the battlefield and provides bulk and containerized

"I am definitely looking forward to the remainder of this deployment, especially when we're able to haul tanks which are the epitome of HET haulers," said Staff Sgt. Michael Levesque, a training noncommissioned officer from Bossier City, La.

Since President Barack Obama forecasted the Aug. 31, 2010, deadline to remove all U.S. Combat Troops from Iraq, the operational tempo has increased which has, in turn, increased the company's workload as a transportation asset, Davis said.

The Soldiers have already run more than 14 missions covering an area from Mosul, in northern Iraq, to Al Asad, in western Iraq, in the two months since its arrival in theater, Davis said.

The 1083d TC hauls everything from armored vehicles, cranes, M1A1 Abrams tanks, to engineer equipment and T-Walls, he said.

The unit is currently taking on one of the largest missions since they assumed the mission from the 233rd Transportation Company in August, Davis said. The mission involves moving more than 50 vehicles using more than 30 heavy equipment transporters.

With its heavy equipment transport capabilities, Davis said, the 1083rd is trained and ready to provide transportation assets not only to Multi-National Division - North, but also throughout Multi-National Corps - Iraq in support of sustainment operations and the responsible drawdown of U.S. forces out of Iraq.

• Date Taken: 10.16.2009
• Date Posted: 10.16.2009 08:36
• Story ID: 40201
• Location: TIKRIT, IQ