By Keith Anderson
16th Sustainment Brigade
AL KASIK, Iraq — Sgt. 1st Class Josue Martinez doesn't mind serving at this Iraqi Army base, far from his Army peers at Contingency Operating Base Q-West, Iraq.
Martinez, logistics adviser non-commissioned officer, Al Kasik Logistical Training Assistance Team, 30th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 16th Sustainment Brigade, is one of several sustainment Soldiers living at Al Kasik and working with logistics counterparts in the Iraqi army.
"I volunteered for this," Martinez said. "I've built warehouses before. Now that I've been here, and have been able to teach others what I know; my legacy will be that."
The LTAT serves many roles at the divisional Iraqi base, including training Iraqi Soldiers to operate and repair military and civilian vehicles from Russia, Japan, the U.S., and other countries; small arms repair and maintenance; and generator maintenance, but warehouse-operations training is critical, Martinez said.
"It's very important," he said. "The warehouse is the core of sustainment in the battlefield. People without equipment can't do anything; they just stand around looking at each other."
Iraqi Army Sgt. Qaisar Jabar Gatiee, maintenance sergeant at the 3rd Motor Transportation Regiment warehouse, works with the LTAT Soldiers.
"I have a good relationship with them," said Gatiee, a 23-year-old from Muthana, near Baghdad, through a translator. "We learn from them how to organize our stuff."
Gatiee, and his older brother Satar Jabar Gatiee, both joined the Iraqi army at the same time, "to defend our country and support our family," he said. He and his brother pay for their parents' home.
The logistics team has helped the Iraqis organize, equip and operate two warehouses at the base.
"Basically we had to start from scratch," Martinez said. "We helped organize their parts, and helped them to stand up the different sections you need in a warehouse, and showed them, hands on, the flow of parts from a request from a customer all the way to installation on a vehicle."
The team has faced many challenges, from scheduling problems, to getting parts and equipment, to disagreements with Iraqi leaders over warehousing issues, but the biggest challenge is abstract, Martinez said.
"The biggest challenge for us is the language gap, because most of the things we teach are concepts, and it's very difficult to teach another person to think the way you think,"
said the 42-year-old from Killeen, Texas, originally from Guatemala.
Helping the Iraqi Army is beneficial for Iraqis and Americans, said Capt. Erik Mattes, Iraqi Security Forces cell officer in charge, 16th Sustainment Brigade.
"It's to help the Iraqi Army advance their knowledge and skill set in all logistical aspects, so that they can sustain themselves without our help and allow more U.S. Soldiers to come home," Mattes said.
The 28-year-old from Gretna, Neb., who oversees the "Knights" brigade LTAT's at Al Kasik and K1, said working directly with the Iraqis was very interesting.
"It's something different than what you could do anywhere else," said Mattes, who worked on a military transition team during a previous deployment, and is currently serving his third deployment in four years. "Most Iraqis are here to build a stronger Iraq, and are nice people like you and me."
| Date Taken: |
12.01.2008 |
| Date Posted: |
12.01.2008 02:01 |
| Story ID: |
27002 |
| Location: |
AL KASIK, IQ |
| Web Views: |
289 |
| Downloads: |
233 |
PUBLIC DOMAIN
This work, Logistics Soldiers train Iraqis to warehouse, track parts, by SGT Keith Anderson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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