Supporting the drawdown one scoop at a time

Courtesy Photo | Sgt. 1st Class Miriam Fayas, 134 Brigade Support Battalion, 1/34 Brigade Combat Team, Minnesota National Guard, removes excess sand blown in from the strong winds at Camp Virginia, Kuwait. Her efforts will allow the vehicles coming to Camp Virginia because of the drawdown in Iraq to have unhindered access to the staging areas within the motor pools at the RPAT yard.  

CAMP VIRGINIA, KUWAIT

10.02.2011

Story by 1st Lt. Eric Cameron 

1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 34th Red Bull Infantry Division

CAMP VIRGINIA, Kuwait - The 134 Brigade Support Battalion deployed to Camp Virginia, Kuwait, in early summer as part of Operation New Dawn.

One of the BSB’s missions is to support the redistribution property assistance team at Camp Virginia in support of the drawdown from Iraq. The RPAT is set up to receive equipment at the “RPAT Yard” as it is brought in from Iraq.

Vehicles are one of the most visible items received at the RPAT Yard. Once inspected, cleaned and accounted for, the vehicles are staged in one of the nine motor pools at the RPAT Yard.

“We had a few set backs on our plate,” said Danny McMillon, the trans lead/ foreman with ITT Corporation for the RPAT site.

One of the issues the RPAT Yard faced was the openings connecting the motor pools were filling up with sand due to the constant winds. With the drawdown ramping up and activity in the RPAT yard increasing, this was becoming a bigger problem.

The BSB’s Sgt 1st Class Miriam Fayas, the non-commissioned officer in charge of the contracting section, answered the call. Relying upon her civilian construction experience, Fayas took it upon herself to assist the RPAT. She spent hours in a Bobcat removing sand to ensure the RPAT had the necessary access to the motor pools. Fayas also assisted in the placement of barriers in the openings to reduce the possibility of the sand filling up the open area in the future.

Maj. Gen. Kenneth S. Dowd, the 1st Theater Sustainment Command Commander, visited Camp Virginia and requested a cut in the berm between motor pools to allow soldiers direct access to the yard instead of having to make the long walk around the entry yard to the next yard. The RPAT asked Fayas if she could assist with this and her answer was “no problem.”

The next day Fayas drove the Bobcat to the RPAT yard to complete the request.

“I went down to see what was going on and Sfc. Fayas was hard at work operating the Bobcat cutting through the berm,” said McMillon. “I was able to get the mission accomplished within days versus months,” said Fayas.

Currently, the RPAT yard isn’t covered by a contract allowing a contractor to do immediate work. Because of this, there is a process to receive funding and approval for the contractor to complete the work and this process sometimes can take a little while.

McMillon commented, “Fayas does not stop until the mission is complete. She’s like a well-greased machine and keeps going and going. I have witnessed her leave one area straight to work at another, stop and go back to the office to do some meeting and training, and then she’s back in the Bobcat in the RPAT yard taking on another mission that was on our deadline list to get done. Even when the wind picked up and she was covered in sand she wouldn’t stop till the mission was complete. She has been a blessing to our mission here at the setup of the RPAT site.”

• Date Taken: 10.02.2011
• Date Posted: 10.12.2011 04:43
• Story ID: 78352
• Location: CAMP VIRGINIA, KW