Colonias 21 kicks off with Marines on the ground

Photo By Staff Sgt. Frans Labranche | CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Sgt Brandon Dod and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Ibrahim Attya, heavy equipment operators with Marine Wing Support Squadron 272, operate a demiller which removes layers of roadbed in order to resuface and repair roads as part of Innovative Readiness Training Colonias 21 here June 2. The project will see the refurbishment of roads, ditches, and retention waterways in the surrounding area through the month of June. This provides the Marines the opportunity to meet the annual training requirements of their military occupational specialties while providing communities with much needed infrastructure maintenance. (Courtesy of Gunnery Sgt. Christopher Caraballo)  

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX, UNITED STATES

06.03.2021

Story by Staff Sgt. Frans Labranche 

Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES)

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Marines from the Marine Wing Support Squadron 272, Marine Air Station New River and Landing Support Co., Combat Logistics Regiment 45, began operations here yesterday that will see the refurbishment of roads, ditches, and retention waterways as part of the Innovative Readiness Training Colonias 21 project.
The Marines will be working across the area to improve infrastructure that has over grown and degraded, and which the local counties would have difficulty doing themselves because of logistics and financial concerns.
Much of the funding for these repairs comes from the IRT, a program from the Office of the Secretary of Defense which pairs community projects that meet the training requirements of US servicemembers with units that need training. In this case, heavy equipment Marines from Combat Logistics Regiment 45 and MWSS-272 will get operational time on their equipment with the community benefiting from their products.
The program is unique, specifically for construction related services as much of their exercise builds are immediately deconstructed so the training can be run again or they don’t have the ability to rehearse outside of garrison parameters.
“As landing support Marines we generally deal with material handling equipment, the loading and offloading of palettized cargo, but this training involves a lot of earth work which is a standard that my Marines don’t get to train to that often,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kollin Craig. “Being able to utilize road graters, excavators, and other things like that to build roads is just a capability that we can’t train to at the unit. This is something that the Marines definitely need to be more proficient at.”
“The community is going to see a lot of value from a drainage standpoint. The community suffers from a lot of drainage issues, be it during torrential rains or during hurricane season when people’s evacuation routes are blocked. So for us to come out here and conduct our earth work exercises, it will improve drainage and road quality allowing people to access and egress their homes during times of bad weather. The average person is going to be a lot happier if their home isn’t flooded out when it rains six inches.”
Aside from the earthwork and flood mitigation, IRT Colonias 21 will be operating joint-service clinics in the area for the latter half of the month providing, medical, dental, dietary, public health, and veterinary services.
Both efforts will conclude at the end of the month.

• Date Taken: 06.03.2021
• Date Posted: 06.08.2021 22:30
• Story ID: 398092
• Location: CORPUS CHRISTI, TX, US