By 1st Lt. Seth Church
224th Sustainment Brigade Public Affairs
CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq — Soldiers with the 632nd Maintenance Company, 110th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 224th Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), provide valuable armament, munitions, welding, equipment and vehicle maintenance to the various 224th Sust. Bde. units at Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq.
Recently, they managed the turn-in of more than 25 non-seaworthy containers in record time.
Second Lt. Derrick Smith, armament platoon leader with the 632nd Maint. Company and a Ragland, Ala., native, and Sgt. Ronald Turner, armament repairer with the 632nd Maint. Company, and a Detroit native, ensured that the faulty containers were turned in to the container supply system.
Smith, the appointed container manager with the 632nd Maint. Company, planned, coordinated and began movement of the containers as directives came down the chain of command in the form of e-mails, fragmentary orders and verbal orders.
“It was short notice, so we got on the move as soon as we could,” said Smith. “With only a short time to empty the containers, the entire chain of command was involved, from squad leaders up to the company commander. The first sergeant provided the guidance to all platoons that the suspense must be met at all costs, even if it meant working late for the day.”
Turner, the container noncommissioned officer-in-charge, supervised, guided and helped the soldiers who were tasked to clean the containers, sort the equipment and properly store it elsewhere. “We’ve made a lot of progress and have actually found a great bit of equipment the previous unit left behind,” he said. “We are going to turn in anything that we don’t need and properly account for the rest.”