Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Leticia Samuels | North Carolina Army National Guard Spc. Ihor Yakovenko, a motor transporter operator...... read more read more
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FORT IRWIN, CALIF. – Parking your car in the driveway sounds easy, but imagine having to move over 300 pieces of equipment, water, food and people into your new home, while supporting your neighbor moving their furniture at the same time.
This is a day in the life of logisticians assigned to the 630th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion during their month-long National Training Center rotation at Fort Irwin, California from June 4 to 26, 2016.
In order to increase the 630th CSSB soldiers’ readiness, they conduct sustainment operations in the mountains of the Mojave desert at the Forward Operating Base Logistics Support Area Santa Fe where they are responsible for staging and transporting different classes of commodities to their warfighting counterparts, the 1st Armored Battalion Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division while defending their area of operation.
“The biggest benefit of coming to NTC for a CSSB is they never get to train with a BCT during full combat operations,” said Capt. Richard Bragg, a Tactical Operations Center observer coach trainer assigned to the 1st Battalion, 357th Brigade Support Battalion (first Army). “They don’t get to exercise to full capacity what they should be doing in any other setting. This gives them a full test of their capabilities.”
During training, OCT’s advise units on how to enhance their performance and preparedness, ensure logistics operations are performed correctly and give evaluations on how to improve on their operations. The field-training environment also gives soldiers the opportunity to conduct mechanical and logistical operations on vehicles, exercise battle drills, while observing how their jobs play into the overall operation.
“We observe, coach and train,” said Bragg. “We are with the unit from the day they hit the ground until the day they leave. We try to make them better each day. We don’t really grade. We do external evaluations of their training using doctrine, training evaluation outlines. That gives them a rating of how they are proficient in their mission essential tasks.”
In the scenario, 1/34 ABCT is asked to assist the Atropian government by conducting operations to support the Donovian’s unlawful aggression. The 630th CSSB’s mission is to tactically move to, establish and defend a base of operation (Santa Fe) within the 52nd Infantry Division’s area of operation.
“We’re really using this training opportunity to exercise the support operations section, utilize the S3 (operations) more efficiently and just to figure out how to occupy an area and defend it,” said Lt. Col. Troy Holowiti, the 630th CSSB commander.
The mission of the 630th CSSB is to transport commodities such as food, water, ammunition, equipment and mechanical parts. They are also responsible for delivering these commodities to the warfighter at the risk of encountering simulated Improvised Explosive Devices, direct and indirect fire from the enemy and mortar attacks.
“The BCT (brigade combat team) needs their ‘beans and bullets’ and we provide that to them,” said Capt. Thomas Reeves, the 630th CSSB Headquarters and Headquarters Company commander. “We can’t haul it (commodities) back from the main base. We have to move into the operating area. We are behind the lines, but there could be some activity from enemy special forces, drug cartels and disgruntled civilians. Those are the things that can hinder our operation.”
The heartbeat of all operations runs through the Battalion Tactical Operation Center. The support operations, current operations, personnel, intelligence, supply and communication assets all operate in this area to ensure all missions and requests are received by the higher echelon, the 916th Sustainment Brigade, and are received by the 630th CSSB for support. The TOC allows the battalion commander to have constant visibility on the battlefield.
“We trying to make sure we have a visual on the plan, so we can actualize it from start to finish,” said Meachum. “When a mission goes out on a convoy, wherever it’s going, we need to be able to know where it is along the path, when its reached its destination, that it actually has delivered the commodities it was supposed to deliver, and that it makes a safe passage back.”
Sgt. 1st Class Kevin Boyles, the support operations noncommissioned officer in charge said that a Transportation Movement Request is completed by the 1/34 ABCT requesting water, food, or whatever maybe needed to sustain the fight.
“They will actually fill out the TMR specifying who they are, where they need it dropped off, and when they need it. That information gets pushed down to the 916th SB,” said Boyles. “They vet it to make sure the information is correct, and it is suitable to be done. That TMR is then pushed down to us in a 48 to 72 hour time frame.”
The 1454th Transportation Company utilizes M1075 A1 Palletized Loading Systems to haul Meals Ready to Eat and M105 Load Handling Systems Compatible Water Tank Racks “Hippos” that carry up to 2,000 gallons of water and can pump 125 gallons of water per minute.
“The PLS are used for hauling equipment and supplies,” said Sgt. Marcus Haltom, a motor transport operator assigned to the 1454th TC. “That’s there main use and objective. You can haul Humvees, class 9 (vehicle repair parts) and connexes. Anything you can put on it and strap down you can haul.”
To provide security to the 1452nd Combat Heavy Equipment Transporter Company and the other eight Guard and Reserve units during convoy operations, the 1454th TC utilizes M1114 Up-Armored Humvees also known as the “gun trucks”, that have the Browning M2 .50 Caliber Machine Guns, the M240 machine gun, and the M249 light machine gun mounted in turrets on the top of the vehicles.
“We are the convoy escorts that are going out where ever they are leaving, whether it be to the Brigade Staging Area or hauling tanks,” said Sgt. Antione Stinson, a motor transport operator assigned to the 1454th Truck Company. “If they need security that is what we are here for. We are the eyes and ears of the whole convoy, so if we see something, we halt the convoy. That way they don’t get hit and we are the first eyes on.”
The 1/34 ABCT utilizes combined arms and combat recovery vehicles such as the M88A2 Hercules Armored Recovery Vehicle, used to tow M1 Abrams Battle Tanks during the training exercise. These tracked vehicles can drive up to 30 miles per hour, but in the heat of the battle, need to be dropped off at specific locations. This is where the 1452nd Combat HET Company rolls into the mission.
“We try to make sure that our platoon offers the company the assets that we provide for transportation and heavy equipment,” said 1Lt. Jarrette Dineen, the officer in charge of the 1452nd Combat HET Company. “We’re a big mover. Any of the M1A1 tanks, M88 or oversized equipment that the PLS and other equipment can’t haul, we haul. That’s our mission here, as a casualty support asset for the armored brigade.”
These massive pieces of equipment operate on hundreds of gallons of fuel and oil and weigh tons. In order to keep these transporters up and running on daily missions, mechanics assigned to the 626th Maintenance Company, the 1454th TC and the 1452nd all tirelessly work with six other Guard and Reserve mechanics around the clock to keep all of these vehicles humming. They also have the opportunity to do hands on training with the Maintenance Support Device, which is used to store technical manuals for vehicles and the Standard Army Maintenance System-Enhanced program, a maintenance component of the Army’s Logistics Information Technology that provides warfighters with automated management of equipment maintenance.
“As maintenance we provide customer service to our customers, and if our customer service is bad then the operators will not want to bring their equipment to us,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Douglas Malone, a maintenance automotive technician assigned to the 1454th transportation company. “We have to provide good customer service but at the same time we have to uphold Army regulations.”
Malone explained that operators fill out a maintenance and equipment worksheet to document faults with vehicles and operators drivers’ license information.
“We take all that information that they give us and we process it into the SAMS boxes,” said Malone. “The SAMS boxes will in turn roll that data up and send it to the SAMS 2 box. It gives the battalion commander and our brigade commander a better understanding of what our mission/readiness posture is for our equipment.”
Soldiers assigned to the National Guard and Reserves from different states work side by side cultivating relationships while mirroring the ‘Total Army’ concept.
“We have had some bumps and bruises, because we have never worked together, but we are jelling as one big happy family now,” said 1st Sgt. David Owen, the first sergeant assigned to the 79th Quartermaster Company. “The Guard and the Reserves do different jobs in the civilian world, which makes them a better commodity to have because they can multi-task in different areas. That is why the U.S. military is so dangerous, because we have freethinkers.”
NTC is a training facility designed to simulate real-life combat scenarios testing warriors’ readiness utilizing their military occupational specialty in a high-up-tempo environment.
| Date Taken: | 06.15.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 08.10.2016 16:17 |
| Story ID: | 206740 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 241 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, NCNG: Logisticians at NTC, by SFC Leticia Samuels, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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