Photo By Sgt. Glen Baker | Service members working in collaboration stand together at the Convoy Support Center...... read more read more
CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq - Soldiers with the 224th Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), have been collaborating with multiple organizations to build a comprehensive Convoy Support Center on Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq.
The CSC will be the last major stopping point for every convoy going north or south into Kuwait until U.S. Forces close COB Adder and exit Iraq.
“My role in the project was to oversee the establishment of the CSC,” said Lt. Col. Peter Kim, the deputy commander of the 224th Sust. Bde., and a Cerritos, Calif., native.
Kim continued to explain why CSC Adder was created.
“It’s been a multi-year project,” Kim said. “The convoys that had previously gone to both Cedar and Scania for rest stops and to replenish fuel are no longer able to do that [since their closures], so the plan was to establish the Convoy Support Center in Adder and in Kalsu to take the places of those.”
Capt. Philip Thomas, CSC officer-in-charge with the 224th Sust. Bde., and a San Diego native, described his role as the CSC program manager.
“My role for the mission is to be an advocate and also to provide oversight and direction on behalf of the 224th Sust. Bde. has been tasked to establish a Convoy Support Center within Southern Iraq.”
Thomas said that several organizations came together for the project.
“We have multiple players in this scenario,” Thomas said. “The 1st Special Troops Battalion out of Kuwait has been helping us run the Internet; the Air Force construction team has been doing electrical work and HVAC [heating, ventilation, and air conditioning], and the 119th Field Artillery is going to do some construction. Then we have the 328th Engineers who built the test fire pit. We have the 3rd Advise and Assistance Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, and USD-South [United States Division – South], who selected the safest place to be constructing the sites and got it approved, and then we have ourselves who are spearheading and providing the contracting and administrative action.”
Sgt. 1st Class Heriberto Culebro, a supply non-commissioned officer with the 224th Sust. Bde., and an Imperial, Calif., native, described the individual construction projects of the CSC.
“For one, the permanent retail fuel site is going to be able to process over 1,200 trucks a day, which should store about 60,000 gallons at its fuel stock at the retail fuel site, and it’s going to make the throughout [the flow of vehicles] so much smoother,” said Culebro, a CSC project team member.
Culebro also said that the CSC contains living areas with rest-overnight tents for military personnel, and containerized housing units for more than 1,500 civilian and military personnel living on COB Adder.
Thomas went on to explain the numerous units and organizations who have contributed to the project.
“Garrison [224th STB, 224th Sust. Bde.] is getting the dig permit and trying to get us resources,” Thomas said. “We have the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers running the power plant along with Fluor Corp. You have all these contractors here servicing them. You have the Movement Control Team who’s also consulting us on efficient traffic flow through the site. So if you look at this whole project, it’s a collaboration of a lot of people. I don’t know who we haven’t touched. Even EOD [explosive ordinance disposal] had to clear the old test fire pit to move it. We have 2135th MEDEVAC who we worked with relocating their dust off. We’ve been interacting with almost everyone here to get this one thing done.”
Culebro explained how he collaborates with various organizations.
“I go out and coordinate with entities that are working in cohesion to get this CSC Adder fully established and completed,” Culebro said. “I play a role in making contact with the key personnel; the staff. I do the best I can to get them all to collaborate to get these different projects completed.”
Master Sgt. Scott Witt, a transportation supervisor non-commissioned officer with the 224th Sust. Bde., and a Paso Robles, Calif., native, described his role as the CSC project team leader.
“My job has been to take the project leaders, Sgt. 1st Class Calebro, Sgt. 1st Class (Robert) Atwood, and Sgt. 1st Class Jay Watson, and keep them tasked going in the direction of what priorities are first as far as the project; making sure we accomplish things in a given set of time to a standard that’s expected,” Witt said.
Witt said he likes the diversity of the project. “I like the different people and different types of projects, coming in contact with the different folks from the different elements as far as the Army and civilian side. I’ve met quite an array of people.”
Kim said that the 224th Sust. Bde. worked with many entities on the CSC project in a collaborative effort.
“The biggest thing we were able to do was establish a collaborative working environment with various players with the CSC; that includes the movement control team, the convoy support teams from 1st Sustainment Brigade and 1st Theater Support Command that support the Kuwait convoys that come up here, as well as the other tenants that live on the south side of Adder,” Kim said. “Although we don’t have direct command and control of those elements, we were able to find ways that we could help them and they could help us; mutually beneficial to the operation of the overall convoy support center and our ability to support the soldiers that come up and down in convoys. I think that’s the biggest legacy that we’ll leave."
| Date Taken: | 02.12.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 02.20.2011 14:20 |
| Story ID: | 65780 |
| Location: | CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, IQ |
| Web Views: | 500 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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