Photo By Spc. Rochelle Prince-Krueger | Sgt. Jesse Willis and Pfc. Drew Hylton, both assigned to 396th Transportation Company,...... read more read more
Subscribe
CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait - Approximately 130 Soldiers assigned to 396th Transportation Company, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, participated in a two-day, truck rodeo comprised of six events to test and hone their skills to see which team is the best motor transport operator at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, Jan. 22-23.
“We know that we would have some extra down time with missions changing” said Sgt. Roylee Cook, who brought the idea up to do it. “I’ve done them before in other units I’ve been in so I thought why not? I got the command approval and started to plan it.”
The Wheels of Steel, also known as 396th TC, kept squad integrity and split into seven teams. Each team had seasoned veterans of both deployments and truck rodeos along with new Soldiers that got to Fort Stewart, Georgia, weeks before the unit deployed last August.
“We did our best to keep the Soldiers in their same squads that they work with day to day,” said Cook, a native of York, Pennsylvania. “That way you know how each other works and can use their strengths on certain events.”
Day one of the truck rodeo consisted of an Army physical fitness test, a written exam and a Humvee tie down.
“Everything on the exam pertained to the vehicles that we work with day to day, so it was job orientated,” said Sgt. Quinton Stith, assigned to 396th TC. “If you know your systems, the field manuals and regulations pertaining to our equipment then the test was simple.”
The longest event of day one was the Humvee tie down. Five Soldiers from each team competed against the clock to safely load and tie down a Humvee on a Heavy Equipment Transporter Trailer, also known as a HETT. There were seconds added for any safety violation.
“It was a lot tougher than we thought it would be before we started because we were first and in the spotlight,” said Stith, a native of South Bend, Indiana. “Everyone was watching us and making note of what they would do differently to be faster and more efficient. But the important thing is that we completed it to the best of our abilities.”
On day two the Soldiers went to a training site in the desert, where they simultaneously competed in the last three events. The events were a four person Humvee pull, a serpentine trail driving a M1088 with a trailer and utilizing a palletized loading systems.
The Humvee pull proved to be the most difficult for many of the Soldiers.
“If I could have changed one thing, it would have to be the Humvee pull because everyone had such difficulty with it,” said Cook. “We didn’t realize how the sand would inhibit them so much.”
Stith agrees with Cook saying there was no traction with the pull. But the sand made the rodeo unique because everything was done in the sand instead of on the pavement, where most of the other rodeos he has done have been.
Stith, who drove the serpentine course says he did pretty well.
“It was pretty complex because most of the driving you did going forward you had to do backing up as well,” said Stith. “The final and hardest part with the 1088 was ally-docking, where your truck is at an angle and you have to back it up in a very small space.”
Stith, whose team didn’t win, says that this truck rodeo was a lot of fun.
“This is my seventh rodeo in five years and it is definitely in the top three,” said Stith. “It was a great idea to do this to build our morale and now we really know who the best squad in our unit is.”
The squad that won the event was squad Young Guns, headed by Staff Sgt. Love with team members: Sgt. Lowther, Sgt. McPhaul, Sgt. Chisholm, Sgt. Singleton, Sgt. Ellis, Sgt. Willis, Spc. Cantu, Spc. Crutcher, Spc. Hernandez and Pfc. Hylton.
They now have the bragging rights to say they are the best.
| Date Taken: | 01.23.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 02.16.2015 02:08 |
| Story ID: | 154558 |
| Location: | CAMP BUEHRING, KW |
| Hometown: | SOUTH BEND, IN, US |
| Hometown: | YORK, PA, US |
| Web Views: | 120 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Wheels of Steel vie for best squad in truck rodeo, by SPC Rochelle Prince-Krueger, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT