Photo By Nathan Rivard | Staff Sgt. Danaher, 131st Engineer Company, uses the spike created by Staff Sgt. Terry...... read more read more
BARGNY, Senegal – American ingenuity. Something that can't be explained, can't be taught, and somehow just happens. Staff Sgt. Terry Boulanger showed a group of Senegalese Army engineers his Vermont ingenuity.
“I went out into the bone yard and took a rear service drive light off,” said Staff Sgt. Terry Boulanger, mechanic, 131st Engineer Company. “Took the mount out and just got like two 4-foot wires and hooked the positive to the light bulb and the negative to the ground on the bracket. I showed them how to test for power. Hitched it on a battery and the light came on. They can use it for basic trouble shooting because they don't have a test light. I was just thinking one day and I could make one, so I went and did it.”
The Senegalese Soldiers working with Boulanger had not seen this before and were amazed at what he did.
“By seeing him do that, we realized that you [U.S.] are complete military,” said Sergent Chef Samba Ba, mechanic, Senegalese Army. “You can do anything. Usually, when we say military, we work on fighting, but they showed us other ways to be military.”
The military is thought of as a fighting force, but the 131st Engineers showed Senegalese soldiers that there is more to the military than just fighting. Boulanger was happy about showing them this trick and the Senegalese were happy as well.
“They were pretty tickled. Pretty impressed. They got it,” said Boulanger. “I explained to them you don't have to put negative on battery you can ground it anywhere on machine. They grounded it on different spot and light came on, so I think they got it.”
Boulanger didn’t stop troubleshooting there. One piece of engineering equipment, Vostosun VSBL30-25 backhoe, hadn’t worked in a long time. Staff Sgt. Boulanger looked it over quickly and had an idea to start it.
“It wouldn't start for a long time because of the battery, it only took me like two minutes to know it was the electrical solenoid,” said Boulanger. “It was sticking and wasn't opening to let fuel go through. I reached in and held it open until it started up. It’s a temporary fix. They need to replace solenoid. I've had to do this many times before. Especially with construction equipment.”
The Vermont National Guard Soldiers are in Senegal conducting their annual training. They are building a humanitarian land mine detection training range with the Senegalese. This training range will allow the Senegalese to train their own Soldiers to detect landmines.
“I think it's a good idea to build this,” said Boulanger. “I didn't realize there were that many land mines over here. That is not something we worry about it the U.S. It makes sense, it is money well spent.”
An operation on this scale requires a lot of heavy-equipment and mechanical problems are commonplace. Boulanger is here to makes sure the machines keep running, so the engineers can keep working.
“I've fixed their backhoe, the D6 dozer, and made a few tools. If we didn't fix those, they couldn't run. Some are temporary fixes because we don't have the parts, but they are operating. If the equipment can't work, the job doesn't get finished. I've gotten my hands pretty greasy a few days, but it's all part of the job.”
He is the man turning wrenches and getting dirty behind the scenes, but when it comes to fixing a problem, his name is the first to be mentioned.
“His expertise has been invaluable to this mission,” said Capt. Austin Barber, commander, 131st Engineer Co. “We were having troubles with rental equipment and Senegalese equipment. He was able to craft up some fixes for us to keep on working.”
U.S. Soldiers appreciate what he brings to the table and his Senegalese counterparts also have taken notice of what he has done.
“They helped the military in Senegal learn more, add more experience, and how to make things easier and faster,” said Samba. “Even though we had problems with communication, the way we opened up was nice. It was not a problem, we put it all together.”
Boulanger continued to work and invent until the last minute. During this time of year, Senegal is very dry. Throughout the entire project it rained once. That light rain lasted only a few minutes. The engineers needed to drive metal posts into the dry hard ground to make a fence and they had no necessary tools to accomplish that task. Boulanger's engineering brain started thinking again.
“I was in bone yard numerous times. They have 20-25 5-ton vehicles out there, so I knew that was about the size of an axel we would need. There happened to be one out there that didn't have any bolts in it, so off it went. I brought it to the Germans and they cut a point on it.”
Staff Sgt. Boulanger took a 5-ton vehicle axel and turned it into a nail. The engineers then turned an excavator into a hammer. They created holes in the ground that the fence posts could easily slide into. This completed one of the final stages of the project.
He hopes to continue working with the Senegalese in the future, but if it's not him, he wants someone that can pass on lots of knowledge.
“I would come back again, but I would give somebody else the chance, the opportunity, but I would want it to be someone fairly knowledgeable. I want to send somebody that's been in the military for a couple of years and can pass on lots of experience.”
| Date Taken: | 02.18.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 03.26.2015 17:06 |
| Story ID: | 158230 |
| Location: | BARGNY, SN |
| Web Views: | 44 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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