Photo By Scott Sturkol | Soldiers with the Wisconsin National Guard’s 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team...... read more read more
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Fort McCoy is supporting its first rail movement of 2024 in the second half of May with an effort that includes nearly 200 railcars and approximately 800 pieces of equipment for the Wisconsin National Guard’s 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT).
This rail operation, according to Warrant Officer 1 Eric Frank with the 32nd IBCT who helped plan the movement, is “the largest rail movement with civilian linehaul the Wisconsin National Guard has ever done.”
The 32nd IBCT is sending its equipment and vehicles for a future rotation of training at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Johnson (formerly Fort Polk), La. Frank said the rail movement has been about six months in the making.
“Basically, I built this plan from scratch with the help of all my (unit mobility officers) from all over the state,” Frank said. “Putting each and every single piece of equipment on the railcar takes consideration of length, width, height, and all of the dimensions. Certain rail cars can only handle certain pieces of equipment.”
Frank said prior to this rail movement, dozens of 32nd Soldiers also received training to be ready. A representative from the Army’s National Training Center conducted a three-day course on railcar loading at Fort McCoy in October 2023.
“Then our Soldiers could then train the train the troops who are here today loading these railcars,” Frank said.
Frank also said members with the Fort McCoy rail operations team have been helpful in getting the work completed.
“They have been very supportive and (answered) any questions we have,” Frank said. “They have provided us with a lot of their rail tools, their spanners, and even their personnel to help supervise and to make sure we're doing the right thing. The transportation officer and the LRC (Logistics Readiness Center) here has been a great help to us.”
Installation Transportation Officer Douglas “Terry” Altman with LRC said his team of personnel and supporting contractors “received, inspected, shoved, and pulled 192 rail cars against six ramps (locomotive support); and provided material-handling equipment support; rail tools and spanners; Blue Flag protection; and safety oversight.”
Team members from LRC supporting the effort were Altman; Matthew Fenik, unit movement coordinator; Clint Kurth, transportation assistant; and Dennis Diercks, transportation assistant. From the EAGLE contractor supporting the effort was John Cobb, supervisor; William Peters, engineer/conductor; Douglas White, engineer; Daniel Schiffer, brakeman/switchman.
Frank also said Fort McCoy is a great location for doing rail movements, including historical ones like the one they’re doing for JRTC that is being completed over two weeks and with three trains.
“I feel like it’s one of the best places you can do it,” Frank said. “It’s the only site for rail for military in the state of Wisconsin. You’d have to travel another three hours to Minnesota to Camp Ripley to conduct rail operations. So, I believe this is the central hub for Wisconsin and is a great place to do it.”
Frank said the 32nd’s rail effort also demonstrates the “immense” capability that rail provides to Army.
“It’s probably one of the biggest capabilities that within the continental United States to get our equipment down to the ports of embarkation, to put them on an airplane or put them on a ship,” Frank said. “They could take the most amount of equipment. … (For example) we are sending … roughly 800 pieces of equipment on close to 200 rail cars … in one mass movement … so it’s pretty big.”
Frank said once the training rotation is complete, then all the equipment will return to Fort McCoy for unloading in a similar movement.
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on the Defense Visual Information Distribution System at https://www.dvidshub.net/fmpao, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
| Date Taken: | 05.22.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.22.2024 13:50 |
| Story ID: | 472004 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 585 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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