Photo By Staff Sgt. Bryan Lewis | Sgt. Marshall R. Meeks, an allied trade specialist with Task Force Bellator, prepares...... read more read more
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Story by: Spc. Reginald M. Graham Jr.
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – Sgt. Marshall R. Meeks, an allied trade specialist with Task Force Bellator, uses his creativity not only to enhance his unit’s mission effectiveness but also to raise his morale during a deployment to Kandahar Airfield.
Meeks enlisted as a metal worker in 2006. As the Army transitioned, his military occupational specialty was combined with machinist to produce a more versatile Soldier.
Meeks, a native of San Antonio, enlisted as a way to expand on abilities he had developed in his civilian life.
“I used to be a mechanic, build houses and was a freelance contractor. I joined the Army to be a welder,” Meeks said.
Meeks, who is currently on his third deployment, has used his ingenuity combined with his MOS skills to complete a wide array of tasks throughout his career.
“We had to build a 20-foot ECP (entry control point) gate. It consisted of 4-by-8 feet sheets of kevlar plates. We had to put 24 of the plates together,” Meeks said.
Meeks transitioned from supporting ground units most of his career to supporting Aviation with the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade.
His ability to weld, mold and create products from scratch makes him a high commodity amongst the unit’s logisticians, mechanics, crew chiefs, pilots and senior leaders.
“Being in a welding shop is a real spotlight. A lot of people get you to build a lot of different stuff,“ Meeks said about the requests he receives. “They will give me a blueprint with tolerances … as long as you make it to that print then you are good to go.”
Meeks supported Soldiers in his support battalion by building a cart to carry Hellfire missiles and their cases, which weighs almost 250 pounds each. Normally each one is carried by four Soldiers up to the length of a football field, but now the task only requires one Soldier rolling a cart.
“They brought me a picture of a guy that made a missile cart (on a previous deployment), but it didn’t carry the (case), it just had the missile on the cart. I made one so the whole (case) fit in there,” Meeks said. “You can just take the top off the (case) and have the bottom half roll under the wing of the (helicopter).”
When Meeks is not knocking out blueprints for missions, he is turning his military trade into a Donatello-like hobby. In the middle of a work area filled with blow torches, welding helmets and scrap metal stands animal figurines.
“It was a job you either cut-up everything into small pieces and throw it away or create and make something out of it,” Meeks said.
Meeks uses everyone else’s scraps and his imagination to make his own masterpiece.
“Everybody (from my section) was off and we were looking at the parts, and we were like ‘let’s make something out of it’,” Meeks said.
Even though Meeks is deployed and constantly at his work bench creating things, whether leisurely or for the mission, he continues to build his future.
“My next big goal is to finish my schooling,” Meeks said. “I got 28 hours right now in Engineering and Welding Science.”
With 12-hour work days, constant request for missions and a continuation of bettering himself, Meeks has found a way to create an environment that enables individuality within the confines of the unit.
“You can make anything you want as long as you have imagination and the will to do it.”
| Date Taken: | 06.22.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 06.23.2014 05:18 |
| Story ID: | 133994 |
| Location: | KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, AF |
| Hometown: | SAN ANTONIO, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 346 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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