Motor-T Marines keep 3rd LAR truckin’ in south Helmand

Photo By Staff Sgt. Jeremy Ross | Cpl. Ceon Gordon (right), a wrecker driver and Atlanta native, and Lance Cpl. Derek Gaffett, a mechanic from Brentwood, Calif., both with Motor Transport Platoon, Headquarters and Service Company, 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, rig an AMK-36 wrecker for tow during a resupply patrol in southern Helmand province, Afghanistan, March 2. Gordon has participated in more than 30 vehicle recoveries with his wrecker so far during his deployment.  

FORWARD OPERATING BASE PAYNE, AFGHANISTAN

03.05.2011

Story by Staff Sgt. Jeremy Ross 

Regional Command Southwest

FORWARD OPERATING BASE PAYNE, Afghanistan – The terrain in southern Helmand province is many things, but easily traversable is not one of them – a lesson the Marines of Motor Transport Platoon, Headquarters and Service Company, 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion have learned during their deployment here.

The platoon, a collection of drivers, mechanics and gunners, is the main way supplies get moved around 3rd LAR’s area of operations. It’s a stretch of mostly open desert territory spanning roughly 50,000 square miles, an area larger than the state of New York. The area is dotted with patrol bases and traffic control points, each containing contingents of LAR Marines.

While most bases in the battalion’s area have a helicopter landing zone, nearly all the logistics and personnel movements are made by ground vehicles. This includes water, rations, ammunition and virtually anything else the forward outposts need to sustain themselves.

“The way I see it we’re the heartbeat of the battalion,” said Gunnery Sgt. Jon McFarland, a convoy commander with Motor-T Plt. and native of Old Forge, Penn. “We keep the companies supplied so they can carry out their mission.”

Motor-T Marines have been on (and off) the roads here since November. Most of the drivers have already logged more than 2,000 miles behind the wheel over the course of more than 150 resupply and vehicle recovery missions, said McFarland.

On a good day the all-dirt lanes that almost pass for roads here are relatively passable for the platoon’s trucks, wreckers and logistics vehicles. Still, the platoon often finds itself going off the beaten path to minimize the risk of hitting insurgent-laid improvised explosive devices, which the platoon has encountered twice, said McFarland.

“We try to be unpredictable,” he said. “It’s seemed to keep us a little safer.”

First Lt. John Yacos, the platoon’s commander and a native of Overland Park, Kan., put it more simply.

“We don’t really have roads here,” he observed.

Weather can wreak havoc on route plans as well, as recent rainfalls demonstrated. The rain turned already treacherous patches of dirt and sand into mud pits more than capable of trapping trucks weighed down with heavier loads. The result: a logistics convoy originally scheduled to take about six hours lasted several hours longer as the Motor-T Marines constantly found themselves pushing and pulling one another’s vehicles out of trouble.

Vehicle breakdowns are a frequent occurrence as well, said Yacos.
“The terrain is definitely tough on the trucks, so breakdowns are bound to happen,” said Cpl. Ceon Gordon, an Atlanta native and AMK-36 wrecker driver with the platoon. Gordon’s job is to drive and operate the heavy-duty wrecker the platoon uses to recover broken down or otherwise disabled vehicles. So far he’s made nearly 30 recoveries during his deployment.

Vehicle recoveries are another wrinkle of the platoon’s mission. In fact, they serve as the recovery and wrecker service for all of southern Helmand province, including British and Afghan National Security Forces vehicles.

With the platoon constantly on the road, the unit’s mechanics have been busy as well, said McFarland.

“We run the trucks hard every day,” he explained. “Without the mechanics we’d get nowhere.”

The pace of the platoon’s operations has had benefits, said Cpl. Michael Boe, the platoon’s radio operator and a Prior Lake, Minn., native.

“I’m so used to seeing the [United States],” he explained. “This place shows you how different the world can be. It definitely makes the deployment go by faster.”

• Date Taken: 03.05.2011
• Date Posted: 03.05.2011 00:08
• Story ID: 66518
• Location: FORWARD OPERATING BASE PAYNE, AF