Photo By Sgt. Daniel Schneider | Spc. Jose Barrera, a generator mechanic assigned to Company B, Division Special Troops...... read more read more
BAGHDAD — The Army relies heavily on electrical energy, and a group of five enlisted Soldiers have the heavy task of maintaining this vital commodity for many people at Victory Base Complex.
The generator mechanics, assigned to Company B, Division Special Troops Battalion, 1st Armored Division, spend all their time inside the walls of the complex, maintaining more than 70 generators.
"We're not outside the wire, but we're vital to the safety of Soldiers here," said Spc. Derek McCarthy, a mechanic with the group.
McCarthy has deployed before, a few times. He said his mission during this deployment has been his most crucial one to date.
"Out of four deployments, this one has been the busiest, and the most important," McCarthy explained. "My last deployments were as an air conditioning technician, but this one is ensuring communication and safety features continue to function properly."
Maintaining reliable electricity involves more than just keeping the lights on and ensuring the Internet stays up and running; it also fuels the equipment needed to provide security to Soldiers, said Spc. Jeremy Simmons, lead generator mechanic for the team.
The crew must remain on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Whenever a generator goes down, they have to get it running again quickly because some of the generators they service provide electricity for vital equipment.
This posed a problem for them in the beginning because the majority of them are not specialists in generator repair. In fact, Spc. Jose Barrera and Simmons are the only members of the team who have actually received specialized generator repair training.
They have been able to overcome this challenge, however, by conducting classes, sharing knowledge and learning from each other in order to improve the team's overall capabilities.
"We're all maintenance technicians, but we have a broad split of specialties," said Simmons.
Those specialties come into play when faced with a problem.
The team has learned to work through tough problems by troubleshooting them; a technique that involves understanding schematics, said McCarthy, a Chicago native.
"If you can read schematics and blueprints, you can pretty much figure out the path of electricity and find out through troubleshooting where the problem is," said McCarthy.
The Soldiers said they are proud of their role in achieving their vital mission, especially when they get the opportunity to tackle difficult problems.
"It's exciting to troubleshoot a problem and find out how to fix it," said Pfc. Jonathan Warden, a maintenance technician. "The feeling of accomplishment is an awesome feeling."
Generator maintenance may seem unglamorous to many, but to the five mechanics of Co. B working behind the scenes to help keep other Soldiers' missions running smoothly, it is a quiet burden they are more than willing shoulder.
"If we can support other Soldiers to succeed in their jobs," said McCarthy, "then we succeed in ours."
| Date Taken: | 02.06.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 02.06.2010 20:09 |
| Story ID: | 45034 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 203 |
| Downloads: | 165 |
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