"Fobbits" essential to base operations in Iraq

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

08.10.2005

Courtesy Story

4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs

by Spc. Dan Balda

BAGHDAD -- Some might call them "Fobbits", a crude term for a Soldier who does not leave the FOB, or forward operating base. But what the Soldiers of B Company, 703rd Forward Support Battalion should be called is mission essential.

"We don't go out on patrol," said Capt. Billy Eckstein, B Co. commander. "For the most part, our life is here on the FOB."

But that doesn't mean their job is not important. Without Eckstein's company, the well-oiled machine of Task Force Baghdad operations in the International Zone would grind to a screeching halt.

The Greenville, S.C., native's company was originally called to support all of the units assigned to the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. His unit's mission has now evolved into supporting "everybody and everything in the IZ," to include the combat support hospital, the Marines, the Georgians and anybody else who calls the IZ home.

B Co. has twice the workload of any maintenance company in the 3rd Inf. Div., Eckstein said.

"Here in Iraq, everything is focused around the forward operating bases," said Lt. Col. Jack Haley, 703rd FSB battalion commander. "We are asking them to do a lot more than the battalions are designed for, but they have risen to the challenge. It's a lot of work."

"My Soldiers are awesome," Eckstein said. "I say this not just because I am the company commander, but this is a great group of people to work with."

The great group" includes 27 different military occupational specialties, covering a wide variety of tasks, such as night vision goggle repair, machinists, turret repair and TOW missile repair. The company is able to maintain its high workload because, Eckstein said, each Soldier can perform any job in the section, regardless of rank or time in service.

He attributes the cross training to the fact that 65 percent of his company deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 1.

• Date Taken: 08.10.2005
• Date Posted: 08.10.2005 15:00
• Story ID: 2653
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ