Operation Hickory Sting, NC Guard Logistics Keeps Soldiers in the Fight

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Robert Jordan | Soldiers of the North Carolina National Guard’s 630th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 113th Sustainment Brigade prepare for supply convoy duty supporting the NCNG’s 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) at the National Training Center (NTC), Fort Irwin, California, July 9, 2019. The 30th ABCT Soldiers deployed for Operation Hickory Sting to the NTC for the best, most current combat training available in the U.S. Army preparing them for deployment overseas later this fall. (U.S. Army National Guard Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Robert Jordan, North Carolina National Guard)  

FORT IRWIN, CA, UNITED STATES

07.09.2019

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Robert Jordan    

North Carolina National Guard

“Tactics win battles, logistics wins wars,” an ancient and anonymous military axiom proved by Operation Hickory Sting across hundreds of square miles of the High Mojave Desert where almost 4,200 Soldiers of the North Carolina National Guard’s 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team with nearly 350 armored vehicles and more than 1,500 other wheeled vehicles maneuvered and fought in 24-hour operations against OPFOR, or Opposing Force, Army peers who mimic weapons and tactics of the most current real-world threats at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California, in the heat of early July.

The multi-million dollar, jet turbine-powered tanks burn through thousands of gallons of fuel, the best weapons money can buy need spare parts, Soldiers pushed to their limits need food and water, all continue mission because of the Soldiers of the 630th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion (CSSB), 113th Sustainment Brigade.

“We bring the warfighter the required supplies so they can continue the fight,” Army Lt. Col. Tom Petzold, commander of the 630th CSSB said.

The 630th CSSB Soldiers operated out of their Logistical Support Area, a collection of transport trucks, repair and maintenance bays, generators, fuel tanks, and tents housing the tactical operations center (TOC). At the TOC, leaders scour maps and lists of vehicles, crews, and available supplies. They match the capabilities of the unit against the resources demanded by modern military operations.

Convoy commanders briefed drivers on the next mission huddled around their desert camouflaged trucks. On order, the huge 10-wheeled  M1074A1 Palletized Load System (PLS) and M1088 Medium Tactical Vehicles truck engines whined as the convoy departed into the scrub and bush-covered hills.

Long lines of the PLS and MTV trucks snaked across dusty roads providing everything a brigade at war needs. Armored Humvees armed with M2 .50 Caliber Machine guns pulled security as convoys arrived to units of the 30th ABCT’s 230th Brigade Support Battalion. There the supplies were dispatched to resupply the 30th ABCT Soldiers and armored forces, M1A1 Abrams Tanks, M2A Bradley Fighting Vehicles, M109A6 Paladins, armored personnel carriers, M88 Hercules Recovery Vehicles and other armor.

“Every aspect we do in the real world, we can do at NTC,” Petzold said.

The convoys soon returned to continue the round-the-clock operations under the watchful eye of Soldiers dug in on the perimeter of the LSA as the next convoy prepared to roll out.

“It (Operation Hickory Sting) is as real world as it gets without receiving live rounds,” Petzold said.

• Date Taken: 07.09.2019
• Date Posted: 07.11.2019 01:39
• Story ID: 330838
• Location: FORT IRWIN, CA, US