Photo By Sgt. Dakota Price | An active duty Soldier from the 664th Ordnance Company, 553rd CSSB, based in Fort...... read more read more
PONCE, Puerto Rico – As day breaks and the sun peeks through the clouds here, a huge gray ship, unlike any of the others in the port, is slowly maneuvering its way to the dock where an array of Soldiers, Coast Guardsmen, dock workers, local fire fighters and law enforcement teams are poised and ready to greet it. This special ship is one of only a handful in the Army’s arsenal and its unique mission here Aug. 22 was a historic one.
The ship, Major General Robert Smalls, Logistics Support Vessel 8, is crewed by Army Reserve Soldiers from the 203rd Transportation Detachment, from Baltimore, Md.
Its cargo and crew are part of exercise Nationwide Move 15, an annual Army Reserve approved functional training exercise designed to provide Reserve Component transportation units with valuable, realistic training by conducting real-world operations in support of Continental United States (CONUS) activities.
“This is mainly an ammunition resupply and retrograde mission for the National Guard,” said Chief warrant officer four Michael V. Carpentieri, an Army Reserve senior ammunition technician for the 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary). “This type of mission is conducted every couple of years to ensure the Soldiers have the ammunition they need here.”
Although the mission itself is not unique, this is the first time the Army has used its own seafaring vessel to conduct it. By not contracting the vessel the Army not only saved nearly $2 million, but it also provided a unique opportunity for Soldiers to put their training to work at sea and on land in a multi-component, joint training mission.
For this particular movement the ship carried two military wreckers, 23 large metal shipping containers full of ammunition and one shipping container housing a field sanitation kit.
Moving ammunition posed special challenges and took the concerted efforts of all three components of the Army, as well as members of the Coast Guard, several law enforcement agencies, civilian contractors and a host of others.
“We’ve worked closely with Soldiers from the Army National Guard and the Army Reserves, as well as members of the Coast Guard,” said Chief warrant officer two Anthony E. Hall, an Active Duty ammunition technician with the 664th Ordnance Company. “Communication between all the Army components has been exceptional and our Soldiers are getting great experience.”
Once the ammunition and equipment was off-loaded it was placed onto Army trucks hauling flat-bed trailers. From there, Army Reserve Soldiers from the 432nd Transportation Company, 346th Transportation Battalion, transported it approximately 50 miles north to Camp Santiago, where Active Duty Soldiers from Fort Hood, Texas were waiting to unload it and store it safely in ammunition bunkers.
“We’ve really enjoyed being in Puerto Rico, and doing this type of training” said Spc. Darren Huff, an ammunition specialist with the 664th Ord. Company. “It has given a lot of our new Soldiers the opportunity for some hands-on experience with blocking and bracing techniques and forklift operation here.”
When the sun set on the port the afternoon of the 22nd, the ship eased away from the dock and returned to the open ocean with its successful and historic mission complete. Soldiers had received invaluable training in both ammunition handling and transportation movement as well as communication and coordination with numerous military and civilian agencies.
| Date Taken: | 08.22.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 08.27.2015 16:17 |
| Story ID: | 174467 |
| Location: | PONCE, PR |
| Web Views: | 366 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Nationwide Move 15 showcases unique, historic, multi-component ocean-transport mission, by SGT Dakota Price, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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