Photo By Command Sgt. Maj. Ryan Matson | Spc. Mario Castro (left), a carpentry/masonry specialist with the 248th Engineer...... read more read more
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This is the motto of the Army's Engineering Branch, and it has proved to be a fitting one.
Often times, Army engineers are asked to build something in a field environment on short notice or without a specific blueprint to guide them. In these cases, they rely on their training, as well as an ability to improvise, to complete the mission.
Recently, 12 Army Reserve engineers from the 248th Engineer Company out of Dallas employed the branch motto by building three steel barracks buildings during their two-week extended combat training as part of Operations Essayons at Fort Hunter Liggett, Calif.
The Engineers arrived at Hunter Liggett, April 25. The next day they received one day of instruction on building automatic building machine steel buildings from a civilian contractor. By May 10, the small crew of engineers had built three 50-by-30-foot steel barracks-style buildings.
"We had been briefed on what all the missions in the operation were," Staff Sgt. Eric Fitzgerald, a combat engineer with the 248th Engineer Company said. "We did not know exactly what our specific mission was until the next day when we were told we were going to be doing these ABM buildings. We probably had a four-hour course on the machine and we started rolling. Luckily we had two guys who were welders to weld the bottom to the plate."
The buildings are named after the ABM, the machine which crimps and bends the 14-gauge steel pieces from which the buildings are constructed. The buildings are high-arched buildings on concrete pads constructed almost entirely of steel.
Since the Soldiers received somewhat limited training, some obstacles surfaced when constructing them.
"The main challenge on the ABM was getting the links right," Fitzgerald explained. "There's no real science to it, you have two dolls and just kind of have to tweak and nose until you start to get the measurements right. When you first start a project with an ABM, you're always going to have some waste material left over."
One of the lessons the engineers learned in cutting and forming the metal pieces was dealing with the dramatic temperature changes that come with the California climate over the course of a workday.
"One of the biggest issues we had was that the metal would contract and expand depending on the temperature outside," Fitzgerald said. "The second morning we were here we were hitting out measurements and it stayed pretty much around the same temperature the first week, so things went pretty smoothly. The next week was a lot more of a challenge for us. We were hitting our measurements and within an hour to two later they were coming out different."
The engineers learned that in the morning they had a limited time to cut their pieces for that workday.
The crew of engineers from the 248th displayed their skills in completing their mission despite coming from a variety of different full-time civilian occupations. All have received Army training as engineers, and many work in related fields in civilian life, but some do not.
Spc. Mario Castro, a seven-year carpentry/masonry specialist with the 248th Engineer Company, is a bartender in Dallas when he is not serving with the unit. He joined the reserves shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
"I wanted to learn a new trade, not so much to apply in a civilian job, but just something to learn to make me a more well-rounded person," Castro said. "After 9/11, I pretty much just wanted to enlist to do what I could."
Castro said he enjoys his new trade.
"It's completely different and I enjoy it because there's always something new to learn," he said. "I've never built one of these ABMs before, but now I've learned how and I've got some really good training and it's just another thing to put under your belt and say if this task ever comes up again I can say I know how to do it."
Despite the obstacles, every three to four days, the engineers were able to stand up another ABM building.
"The civilians said we were the only crew that has come out here and built these buildings without any assistance from them," Fitzgerald said. "We got lucky. We had the right guys who were able to retain the information we were given and roll them out. They said they usually need 30 to 60 guys on these buildings, and we did it with 12!"
| Date Taken: | 06.02.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 06.02.2009 12:36 |
| Story ID: | 34435 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 514 |
| Downloads: | 432 |
This work, Twelve Dallas Reservists Build Three Steel Barracks in Two Weeks, by CSM Ryan Matson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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