Photo By Pfc. Brian LaBombard | Spc. Jerry Toliver, an ammunition specialist assigned to 664th Ordnance Company, 180th...... read more read more
Subscribe
FORT HOOD, Texas - Ammunition specialists across Fort Hood had the opportunity to participate in the Ammunition Inspectors Course hosted by the 664th Ordnance Company, 180th Transportation Battalion, 4th Sustainment Brigade. The course began, April 2, and will conclude, May 11.
The 10 soldiers in the course were taught at the Fort Hood Ammunition Supply Point by a mobile training team from the Defense Ammunition Center in McAlester, Okla.
"They kept a small class because we have to keep down the number of people out here for the hands on portion of the class. The cardinal rule is 'minimum people, minimum exposure and minimum hazard,'" said Jerra Kemper, a DAC instructor since 2006.
Kemper added, “This class was funded by DAC. This is the first time the mobile training team has come out to teach this particular class.”
Soldiers participating in the course will gain the knowledge required to safely inspect ammunition and explosives. When the 664th assumed full responsibility of operations at the ASP in September of last year, the contracts of the civilian contractors expired and soldiers replaced those employees, said Sgt. 1st Class Jorge Berrios, the senior ammunition inspector at the 664th Ord. Company
Berrios said that “this is a condensed version of the 18-month-long training that the Quality Assurance Specialists (Ammunition Surveillance) civilians receive.” There are still five general schedule civilians working at the ASP, three of which are QASAS certified.
“This course, which is focused around safety and waste prevention, provides invaluable knowledge to ammunition specialists,” said Sgt. 1st Class Greg Stokes, an ammunition specialist assigned to B Company, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, III Corps. Stokes explained that the most important thing he has learned from the course is the ability to locate deficiencies that he may not have noticed before.
When soldiers improperly handle ammunition, it must be “turned in and demilitarized,” said Kemper. This course is invaluable to soldiers and the Army because it helps keep soldiers safer while cutting down on wasted materials and extra costs, she said.
QASAS civilians go through much longer training than soldiers do and when the ammunition inspection portion of the ammunition specialist advanced individual training was removed years ago, soldiers lost the ability to perform an important set of skills, said Stokes.
After attending the course, Stokes was quickly able to identify deficiencies that would usually only be found by senior QASAS civilians.
"We're receiving the training so we can actually enforce safety standards and save the Army money by using our own assets already in place," said Berrios. The 664th Ord. Company recently took over operations at the ASP with an estimated savings of $2.4 million yearly.
As part of the course, “we are conducting on the job training which consists of area inspections and bunker inspections,” said Berrios. “We go out to the ranges and do ammo safety inspections and we do arms room inspections as well. We don't check the weapons (in the arms rooms); we check the ammunition that is stored inside those arms rooms.”
"Since the military already has non-commissioned officers in place, the staff sergeants and sergeants 1st class are going to be the ammunition inspectors” and they will enforce the Army’s standards, said Berrios.
| Date Taken: | 05.08.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 05.08.2012 14:55 |
| Story ID: | 88104 |
| Location: | KILLEEN, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 102 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Sustainment soldiers participate in first Ammunition Inspectors Course on Fort Hood, by PFC Brian LaBombard, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT