SLCR teams keep it clean

Photo By Staff Sgt. Andrea Merritt | Pfc. Eric Wilber, Orlando, Fla., native, folds clothes on April 1. Before the SLCR team arrived to PB Murray, Soldiers used bottled-water to take showers. In order get their laundry done, they had to wash it by hand or send it on a convoy to Forward Operating Base Falcon, then wait three to four days to get it back. Now, customers only have to wait 24 hours to get their laundry back. "Everybody was happy when we got here. We're trying to do a good service out here, and we're doing that," said Wilber. Wilber is a shower, laundry and clothing repair specialist with the 549th Quartermaster Company, 68th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, from Fort Carson, Colo., at Patrol Base Murray.  

IRAQ

04.10.2008

Story by Sgt. Andrea Merritt 

1st Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade

By Spc. Andrea Merritt
1st Sustainment Brigade

PATROL BASE MURRAY, Iraq — A few months ago, the ability to take a nice, hot shower after a long day of conducting patrols and other missions did not exist for the Soldiers on Patrol Base Murray in eastern Baghdad.

Before help arrived, the base was not equipped with shower and laundry facilities. Soldiers had to make due with make-shift showers, which often left them and their morale out in the cold.

"All we had for showers were wooden hut structures, and we would use bottled-water (to wash up)," said Spc. Jacob Kersey, Tallahassee, Fla., native and medic attached to Company C, 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.

"When it was cold outside and all you could expect was a bottled-water shower, we dreaded it," Kersey added.

At one point, they didn't know when their next shower would be because the supply of bottled water became limited. There was not enough water for the Soldiers to drink and bathe with.

In order to have clean clothes, Soldiers either had to wash them by hand or send them on a convoy to Forward Operating Base Falcon, then wait three to four days to get them back.

In November, a team of shower, laundry and clothing repair specialists from the 549th Quartermaster Company, 68th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, from Fort Carson, Colo., attached to the 1st Sustainment Brigade, arrived to PB Murray from Camp Liberty, Iraq, to install and operate shower and laundry systems.

Within 24 hours of their arrival, the SLCR team had set up a functional site and boosted the morale of the Soldiers on the base.

"When you're coming off a hard day's work and you can take a shower and relax, it's awesome," Kersey said.

Now, Soldiers on PB Murray enjoy hot showers and they only have to wait 24 hours to get their clothes back from the laundry.

"When we originally got here, we had taken some of the cold showers they were experiencing and it wasn't fun at all," said Pfc. Todd Tyler, a Sarasota, Fla., native and SLCR specialist with the 549th Quartermaster Co., 68th CSSB.

"Getting the opportunity to come out here and set up the hot showers and the laundry site was nice," Tyler said. "It's given me a little bit of pride in our (military occupation specialty)."

The 68th CSSB has SLCR teams in eight different locations in Iraq servicing thousands of Multi-National Division – Baghdad and Multi-National Division – Central Soldiers on a weekly basis.

In Iskandariyah, where another of the eight SLCR sites is located, the Soldiers of the 549th Quartermaster Co. are as highly praised and appreciated as the ones in PB Murray.

"In my 19 years of service, being both enlisted and officer, this is some of the best support we have ever received," said Maj. John Peeples, the executive officer for 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.

"They are very timely, extremely professional, and it's just a joy to work with them ... They are absolutely 100 percent part of the solution of running successful combat operations here," Peeples said of the 549th Quartermaster Co. SLCR team at Iskandariyah.

Although the 549th Quartermaster Co. is a new unit that was stood up about a year ago, the Soldiers have proven they can get the job done efficiently. They are happy with the work they do and so are their customers.

"I think we run a first-class operation. I'm glad we're here to help the Soldiers who go outside the wire," said Staff Sgt. Laskiasha Fitzgerald, the laundry section sergeant for the 549th Quartermaster Co. SLCR team at Iskandariyah.

"We get multiple Soldiers that thank us for what we're doing out here and that always makes us feel good," Fitzgerald said.

• Date Taken: 04.10.2008
• Date Posted: 04.10.2008 20:18
• Story ID: 18305
• Location: IQ