Photo By 1st Lt. Hannah Morgan | Capt. Alexander Brubaker, commander of 51st Transportation Company speaks with Col....... read more read more
By 1st Lt. Craig Day
51st Transporation Company, 39th Transportation Battalion (MC), 16th Sustainment Brigade
BAUMHOLDER, Germany – The 51st Transportation Company, in conjunction with British Army’s 29th Royal Logistics Regiment, executed a week long field training exercise and convoy live fire to test their capabilities for expeditionary operations and ensure the unit is prepared for its wartime mission.
The exercise began with a level two Emergency Deployment Readiness Exercise, or EDRE, alerting all Soldiers to be in the full battle uniform and present at the company by 5 a.m. After drawing weapons, Soldiers prepared their vehicles and departed for the field..
The 51st Trans. Company occupied the Baumholder Army Airfield, with more than 20 vehicles, by securing the perimeter and setting up an entry control point. As rain fell,, Soldiers set up sleeping tents, generators, the mobile kitchen trailer, and company operations tent.. Spc.Vontrell Witter, a culinary specialist with 51st Trans. Company, discussed cooking in the field.
“The mobile kitchen trailer was extremely easy to work with, I had fun using it to cook for everyone. It was not as easy as the dining facility because we did not have all the resources available to us we normally do, but we made it work,” Witter said. “I also got to set up the field sanitation center for the first time which was a great learning experience for me.”
Two platoons executed a mission providing resupply and convoy security to friendly forces stranded on a combat outpost. The platoons prepared their gun trucks and logistics vehicles for the live fire portion of the exercise where they conducted dry, blank and live fire runs throughout the course of the day. During each iteration, Soldiers encountered improvised explosive device, or IED,blasts and small arms attacks.
In addition, platoons had to secure a drop zone to pick up air-dropped supplies with the palletized load system, then resupply the friendly forces in the area.
Overall, U.S. and British Soldiers trained on gunnery from an un-stabilized platform, radio communications, nine line medical evacuation, actions after encountering an IED, convoy security operations, and the troop leading procedures, all while strengthening NATO interoperability by cycling in British officers and NCOs into the live fire lanes and training them on our tactics, techniques and procedures.
2nd Lt. Tom Richards of the 29th Royal Logistics Regiment was a convoy commander, and gunner for two of the iterations and said regarding the training “It is great to come out here and train with the 51st Trans. Co. We get to see similarities, differences and better understand the way our militaries operate, enabling future exercises together both real world and training.”
Once Soldiers validated weapon proficiency during day operations, the unit moved on to night fire. Each platoon conducted drivers training with night vision goggles first, driving the route to ensure they were prepared to run the live fire in the dark..
This type of training enables Soldiers from 51st Trans. Co., and 39th Transportation Battalion (MC) as a whole, and prepares them to execute missions and operate in an expeditionary fashion, as key player building a Strong Europe.
| Date Taken: | 09.18.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 09.30.2015 08:31 |
| Story ID: | 177594 |
| Location: | BAUMHOLDER, DE |
| Web Views: | 103 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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