Photo By Staff Sgt. Edward Siguenza | Sacramento resident Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Talbert, left, retrograde yard...... read more read more
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KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- They're trash talkers, they're garbage collectors. But in the end, they'll likely be one of the most polished units supporting Operation Enduring Freedom and the logistical nightmare soon to come.
That's because the 349th Quartermaster Company, 749th Combat Services Support Battalion, California Army National Guard, saves countless lives with a retrograde method it jumpstarted shortly after arriving here mid-August 2013. Specific details aren't releasable, but they're concentrated on dispersing approximately 130 California Guardsmen to six logistic sites to eliminate the amount of equipment and supplies that need to be transported. This ties into the United States withdrawing its Operation Enduring Freedom forces by next year.
"This is a completely new method. There's no Army doctrine on this type of mission," said 1st Lt. Norman Hayes, 349th commander and Richmond, Calif., resident. "It's a historic change the way the military retrogrades out of theatre. This is not just going to save time, but save money and lives."
Hayes and 349th executive officer 1st Lt. Adam Chapa sent base and mobile container assessment teams (BCAT and MCAT), along with a mobile redistribution team (MRT), to operate retrograde yards in four International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) regional commands. Sending teams to locations - with intentions of categorizing equipment and supplies - eliminates transporting equipment and supplies to Kandahar. Kandahar is already burdened as one of the main logistical hubs in Afghanistan. Bagram Air Field, about 300 miles away, will likely be another main hub during next year's drawdown.
"This process eliminates the amount of time it takes to load connexs and containers, and it keeps our soldiers off roads so they don't have to transport those containers," Hayes explained. "We save the government money by determining [what equipment and supplies] are useable and savable. We go out and aggressively find excess materials and either disposition it, destroy the equipment, send them to Kuwait or return them to the U.S."
Added Hayes, "We can really save lives by eliminating the garbage that gets hauled around. There are certain things that are demilitarized, so there's no point in sending them here."
Deep South in Kandahar Airfield, the 349th operates in two large yards equivalent to a square mile in total area. Thousands of 20-foot shipping containers pass through monthly, each possessing supplies ranging from office equipment to lumber and clothes. Everything, including pens and paper, are sorted and categorized. Hundreds of civilians assist the 349th with their operation. Some have been in country for so long; the 349th depends highly on them to determine what certain items are.
"They're our team. We consider them part of the 349th," Hayes said. "When we first got here we had to revise some things. But we set up an operation that runs smoothly and safely for everyone in the yard."
There was no prior training into the operation, Chapa explained. Once the 349th relieved the 289th Quartermaster Company out of Fort Hood, Texas, everyone got involved to set up operations. Teams sectioned off areas where trucks deliver containers, drop them off and head out. Another area is where connexs are loaded and awaiting movement. A large clam-shelled canopy consists of triwalled boxes where items are sorted by sensitive and nonsensitive categories.
"It's the soldiers who made this happen," Chapa, of San Jose, Calif., said. "We're writing the Army doctrine right now on how to retrograde out of the country."
"We play a huge part in the commander's intent," added Richmond, Calif. resident Sgt. Dwayne Hardy, a yard noncommissioned officer-in-charge. "We play a huge part in getting Afghanistan downgraded and getting things back to the U.S."
First Sgt. Terran Jesse, 349th first sergeant, commended his troops for cooperating and working with various nationalities. Troops are spread throughout southern and central Afghanistan, working with logistics groups from Poland, Italy, Australia, to name a few. The Californians also have to deal with the local population, Jesse explained.
"We constantly hear how phenomenal our soldiers our doing and how much better they're working than the active duty soldiers we replaced," said Jesse. "We deal a lot with local vendors and contractors. There are lots of scrap metal piled up. Once they're loaded up, they take them straight to the scrap yard. It cost more to ship them out. We're saving time and money just getting rid of them."
This, in the 349th's language, is excess material. They are un-useable, non-retainable items that are just plain garbage. Each day they come across tons of broken printers, computers, tables, chairs and hordes of nonsensitive items. If they can be destroyed on spot, they are, otherwise they're sent to an incinerator or other site for destruction. The 349th productively sorts through everything, saving what's savable but discarding the rest.
"We're keeping things from getting back on the road when they don't need to, and that saves lives," said Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Talbert, a Sacramento native and main yard noncommissioned officer-in-charge. "There are some things I've never seen in my Army career. It makes you realize how large the Army is as a whole."
The efforts of the 349th ties into the overall withdrawal of U.S. forces by Dec. 2014. According to a Sept. 13 Reuters report, about 24,000 vehicles and 20,000 shipping containers of gear will be sent out of Afghanistan, costing up to $7 billion. (It'll cost more to send tens of thousands of troops and other necessities home, the article states.) Afghanistan is a landlocked country, making it difficult to ship containers overseas. Therefore, tremendous effort is required of logistics units - such as the 349th - to strenuously determine what items are deemed savable.
Retrograde, or simply "equipment withdrawal," is a major undertaking as the 12-year War in Afghanistan closes. The 349th assists the CENTCOM Material Recovery Element (CMRE) by moving masses of supplies in and out of Kandahar. The 349th's Chief Warrant Officer Two Pedro Alvarado said his unit processed roughly 11,000 pieces of equipment since their Afghanistan arrival, amounting close to $500 million of supplies scheduled to be sent to the United States.
"The toughest thing for us is transportation. We have an ex-amount of containers packed up and ready to go, but we don't have the means to get them out," Hayes said. "Transportation is limited. It's not as easy as it seems to get things transported. So much is drawing down, the roads aren't as nice as Iraq, and you just can't drive anywhere you want in this country."
Hayes said although the unit is still in its infant OEF stage, it'll continue progressing. The soldiers are aware they're involved in the vast, important movement of moving hordes of equipment out of Afghanistan.
"We just have to stay flexible. We're learning as we go and making adjustments as we see fit," Hayes concluded.
In Afghanistan, the 349th falls under the 68th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 43rd Sustainment Brigade from Fort Carson, Colo. The 68th will soon be replaced by 1103rd CSSB from the Alabama Army National Guard. The 349th's Spc. Jessica Torres earned the battalion's Soldier of the Quarter honor recently, according to Jesse.
"We've only been in country and Torres beat out active duty soldiers for the honor," he said.
| Date Taken: | 10.17.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 10.21.2013 17:10 |
| Story ID: | 115491 |
| Location: | KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, AF |
| Hometown: | RICHMOND, CA, US |
| Hometown: | SACRAMENTO, CA, US |
| Hometown: | SAN JOSE, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 409 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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