Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Whitney Houston | Capt. Patrick Feild, a native of Chickasha, Okla., who serves as the officer in charge...... read more read more
By Spc. Douglas York
Multi-National Division – Baghdad Public Affairs Office
CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq – In the spirit of Irving Berlin's famous World War I song, "Over There," the promise of some modern military units is that they can be anywhere in the world within hours of a conflict arising.
That promise, which includes boots and equipment on the ground, has not always been a possibility, and though troop movement has always been a tremendous undertaking, it is likely that it has never presented the myriad of challenges that moving a modern Army does.
Those challenges are heightened when the supervision and the responsibilities of moving thousands of troops and thousands of tons of equipment come down to two Soldiers. Such is the case with the officer and non-commissioned officer in charge of moving Division Special Troops Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, back home from Iraq.
"Right now, my main focus is making sure that all of the companies have their data inputted into TC-AIMS [Transportation Coordinator's Automated Information for Movement System]," said Staff Sgt. Tracey Mayhan, a native of Atlanta, who serves as the non-commissioned officer in charge of both the battalion retention and unit movement offices with Headquarters Support Company, DSTB, 4th Inf. Div. and MND-B. "I sit down with the DTO [Maj. James Bagley, the division transportation officer] and make sure each of the companies is loading its data correctly," she added.
Mayhan is part of a two-Soldier operation within DSTB that supervises the battalion's companies as they and the rest of the Ironhorse Div. make ready to redeploy.
"Each one of the companies has their own UMO," said Capt. Patrick Feild, a native of Chickasha, Okla., former commander of HSC, who currently serves as the officer in charge of the supply and logistics section with DSTB and as the unit movement officer.
"They also have their own containers, container managers, container inspectors and HAZMAT [hazardous materials] inspectors. So basically, [our] job is to make sure that they are correctly entering all of their stuff into TC-AIMS," he added, elaborating that they are mostly a quality assurance check and ensure that all of the various company UMOs have done their jobs proficiently.
In addition to their roles in the movement office, Feild and Mayhan must also attend to their other roles and responsibilities within the logistics realm and the retention office, respectively.
As the OIC of logistics and supply, Feild is responsible for everything from container management, contracting, purchasing and an assortment of other supply needs. For Mayhan, the pressures of the unit readying to leave accompany those of the retention office, whose numbers are peaking. In all, it makes for an extremely busy work week for both.
"I try to dedicate at least four days a week [to UMO issues] right now," Mayhan said. "Retention is getting heavy also, so I try to help my counterpart out," she added, elaborating that even with the high number of reenlistments the unit is handling right now, preparing to move the unit out of theater must still occupy most of her focus.
That "focus" presents several challenges, considering the assortment of equipment and supplies that must be packed and accounted for, as well as the troops and the various shipping regulations they must adhere to.
"Really, it's a lot of 'hand-shaking' with the division's transportation officers to make sure that we're tracking with what DTO is tracking for us to go home," said Feild. "Then, DTO is the one that interfaces with Multi-National Corps – Iraq, Central Command and coalition forces Land Component Command to make sure that we have boat space."
In addition to securing the necessary boat space, they must also handle the unit's non-mission capable equipment and the advance party elements.
"We're also dealing with early retrograde equipment as well as anything that has to go back early for whatever reason," Feild said. "For example, the band is going back early with some of their equipment to make sure that they are on the parade field for us when we show up."
"The UMO process is extremely bureaucratic because customs standards change as directed by the Department of Agriculture, and HAZMAT standards change from time to time," Feild said. "It constantly seems as though you are playing catch-up, but there's really not much we can do about that."
Along with following protocol, the extensive TC-AIMS system, which Feild and Mayhan must use, also presents challenges of its own.
"Most every other logistics system just pulls the unit's equipment straight off of PBUSE [Property Book Unit Supply Enhanced System] and automatically populates it," Feild said. "TC-AIMS does not do that. You have to go in there and literally 'hand-jam' every single serial number, piece of equipment or NSN [national stock number], and it takes hours upon hours to enter all of that."
Thankfully, Feild and those same company UMOs have Mayhan on their side to help them with the input process.
"With the TC-AIMS system, I've learned it, so I'm familiar with it. It's not a difficult system. But if you don't know it, it takes time," Mayhan said. "If we did have something that would make systems more user-friendly, it would be a lot better."
Being the subject matter expert on the TC-AIMS system is not only a benefit to Feild and her peers, but it will also eventually benefit Mayhan's career.
"I've always wanted to be a [movement] warrant officer, and because it's a really difficult process, you need to have the experience in it," Mayhan said. "So that led me to want to be the company/battalion UMO," she added, elaborating that the level of expertise she needs to be a warrant officer is being honed in the position she's in now.
With her promotion and career packet already approved to make the switch, Mayhan said she is hoping to know if she has been selected to become a warrant officer by January. If selected, she will attend Warrant Officer Candidate School.
"Right now, I feel as if I am doing the same things as a subject matter expert. So I think that I will be ready once I do become a warrant," Mayhan said.
Similar to Mayhan, Feild also has career aspirations beyond redeployment and already has orders sending him to Fort Sill, Okla., 40 miles from his hometown, where he will be an instructor at the Air-Defense Artillery School, his career branch.
However, for now, both he and Mayhan remain focused on the importance of the tasks at hand.
"Some of it gets pretty critical, especially on the HAZMAT side of the house because if you don't do it right, then you could have a ship on fire," Feild said, about the potential dangers of not paying attention when packing combustible materials. "That's not an exaggeration; that's happened."
He said he has attended briefings where slide presentations have shown pictures of what HAZMAT negligence can lead to.
Feild also noted that containers with dented edges and corners can lead to disaster. When other containers are stacked on top of them, the damaged edges cause instability and can topple over the side of the cargo boats and sink to the bottom of the ocean.
The potential of "frustrated" cargo exists, but both Soldiers realize the importance of what they do and don't let the "frustrations" of the job diminish their responsibilities.
"Knowing that I am part of movement is sometimes frustrating because I am ready to go just like everybody else," Mayhan said. "But at the same time, I have to stay focused to do the right things, the right job. The safety of our Soldiers and also making sure that our equipment gets back safely are pretty much the bottom line."
Meeting that "bottom line" is easier said than done, and Feild and Mayhan realize that it will take to a lot of time from a lot of folks to bring the units back home.
"The company UMOs spend countless hours; I don't think you could put it altogether," Feild said about the time required to do the job. "Staff Sgt. Mayhan puts a lot more hours into this than I do because, like I said, my role is more of a supervisory role, just making sure we're going around and doing the checks," he added.
"It takes more than one person to do a job and it's not just me. There are a lot of Soldiers and a lot of the NCOs and officers around that help us be successful," Mayhan said. "I love the Army. I love what I do. I enjoy working for the division and the battalion as a whole, and they make me successful. I am pretty happy where I am at right now."
Hoping to add to those successes, both Soldiers offered recommendations for all redeploying units, individual Soldiers and civilian contractors to streamline the process of getting home.
"Make sure the containers are clean," Mayhan said. "Make sure that when it is time for us to really inspect, when customs comes out, that you've already pre-packed and you know how it should be done so that there aren't any issues."
She also recommended that HAZMAT supplies should be consolidated into one container and that the units should have a stenciling team pre-designated.
"Make sure that everything on your containers, inside and outside, is completely, 100-percent clean," Feild said. "Make sure they don't have any old labels on them because that makes things get misdirected. Get rid of junk, stuff that isn't needed, and if it's on the property book, get it turned in."
He said that units and troops should streamline and pack light. Moreover, when it comes time to do the customs inspections, every nook and cranny is inspected or X-rayed and searched to make sure that nobody is taking back contraband, insects or soil.
With the first advance parties leaving in January, it will take the Ironhorse Div. about six weeks to get home from start to finish – if everything goes well. For the "steadfast and loyal" Feild and Mayhan, their overall success will be a little more transparent. As a result, they will not know if they accomplished the mission until long after all the units have left the field of battle.
"When we're down in Kuwait and I get the thumbs up from all the companies that all of their containers are loaded, and when we get back to Fort Hood, Texas, and every single one of our containers that were supposed to go to Hood and Fort Carson, Colo., show up, then we know that this was a success," Feild said.
When everything – troops and equipment – makes it safely back to the States, they will know they did their mission well.
When they get home and move on to the next phase of their careers, the dynamic duo should be able to write this "movement" into the symphony of their careers. For the time being, they take a few moments to reflect on where they are at, the lessons they are learning and the opportunities they have been given.
"What I've learned so far is to never stop learning," Mayhan said. "I will continue to learn so that maybe I can find something, some type of system that will make all of the systems 'talk' so that when we are moving [in the future], it will be a lot easier."
"The biggest thing about this job that I've enjoyed is the fact that it is so unlike anything I'd trained for," Feild said. "This has given me a side of the Army that I would have never got to see otherwise, and so if you have the opportunity to do a job that is completely outside your comfort zone, take it. Roll up your sleeves and hit it because it will probably be one of the most enjoyable experiences you'll have."
Experience and the transparency of success aside, Feild and Mayhan will be at the forefront of bringing the division home. Meanwhile, they will not allow the possibility of disaster and chaos to cloud their focus, and they will not rest until the Ironhorse Division's time is "over, over there."
| Date Taken: | 11.19.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 11.19.2008 03:44 |
| Story ID: | 26522 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 189 |
| Downloads: | 161 |
This work, Field, Mayhan help Division Special Troops Battalion leave field of battle without any 'mayhem', by SPC Douglas York, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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