Ammo handlers keep the booms coming

Photo By 1st Sgt. Justin A. Naylor | U.S. Army Pvt. Andrew Simons, a Newport, Ky., native and tanker with 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, loads pallets of ammunition on to a truck at Yakima Training Center, Wash., Sept. 27, 2014. Simons, and the rest of the Soldiers in his brigade, receive their ammunition from a team of 12 ammunition specialists.  

YAKIMA TRAINING CENTER, WA, UNITED STATES

09.29.2014

Story by Staff Sgt. Justin A. Naylor 

1-2 SBCT, 7th Infantry Division

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – Whether you’re delivering french fries, milkshakes or thousands of 155mm high explosive rounds, customer service is still king.

For ammunition specialists with 296th Brigade Support Battalion, 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division, this mentality serves them well as their 12-person team supports the ammunition requirements of their whole brigade during training at Yakima Training Center September through November.

At any given time, numerous units are in contact with the ammunition specialists, making requests and arranging for pick up and drop off the ammunition they need to run ranges and qualification events.

“Basically, we want everything here to be as organized as humanely possible so that when those units come in, we can spell it out to them exactly what is expected of them and let them know what to expect of us,” explained Spc. Shawn Porter, a McDonough, Ga., native and ammunition specialist with 3-2 SBCT. “They can come in and get what they need, they can inspect it, they can get it loaded up on their trucks, they can haul it out of here, get their final paperwork, and they can head on to do whatever training they’re headed out to do. That’s really the goal.”

The ammo team works hard daily to ensure that the units they support get all the ammo they need in a timely and safe manner.

“The least amount of wasted time is always the best way to go,” said Porter.

The teams is routinely called out to work with battalions as they conduct training, and two of their Soldiers returned recently after spending 50 days in Idaho distributing ammo for training there.

“It’s tough,” said Staff Sgt. Wade Griffith, the ammunition transfer point noncommissioned officer-in-charge. “It’s like little tiny deployment almost. But, they’re all well-rounded individuals. They can handle themselves in these situations.”

Griffith, who has led the ammo team for nearly a year now, has worked to create systems that make supplying ammo easier for his team and the units they work for.

“We’ve really developed and created a good environment out for everybody to work in and a safe environment,” Griffith said. “We want them to see that we’re doing a good thing out here.”

Griffith’s brigade, 3-2 SBCT, is currently in the middle of its Integrated Training Strategy, a broad training initiative designed to ensure that all Soldiers are properly trained and able to handle any mission they are given. The Soldiers at Yakima right now are primarily focused on qualifying Stryker crews, which requires large amounts of ammunition.

“We have over a million rounds in here now,” Porter said of the ammo holding area.

Porter, like the others on his team, understands the importance of their mission and realizes that their brigade depends on them.

“If they come out for training and they can’t get ammo, they’re not really doing any training,” he said. “We supply everybody with all the ammunition they need to go to all the different ranges they need to go to, whether it’s projectiles or small arms, it doesn’t matter, they get it from us.”

• Date Taken: 09.29.2014
• Date Posted: 09.29.2014 16:55
• Story ID: 143665
• Location: YAKIMA TRAINING CENTER, WA, US
• Hometown: MCDONOUGH, GA, US