Photo By Cpl. Daniel Redding | Seaman Tim J. Whelehan, builder, Naval Medical Construction Battalion 133, 30th Naval...... read more read more
Story by Cpl. Daniel J. Redding
1st Marine Logistics Group
CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq (Feb. 14, 2006) -- Deployed Marines often depend on their ability to freely travel the skies to accomplish their missions. If that ability is endangered, so are those missions.
At Camp Taqaddum, the condition of the flight line here is in need of improvement, which is where the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133, 30th Naval Construction Regiment, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force is coming into action. The unit is helping ensure that airborne assets and transportation remains a dependable facet the overall military force here.
Petty Officer 1st Class Timothy A. Gridley, in charge of the runway project for NMCB 133, said that some areas of the runway are in serious need of repair, some to the point of nearly being shut down.
Petty Officer 1st Class Peter A. Broehm, crew leader for the project, agreed, explaining that the Gulf Port, Miss.-based unit is working on two particular sections of Camp Taqaddum's aged runway.
Broehm, a 34-year-old Fond Du Lac, Wis. native, said NMCB 133 has faced unique challenges in accomplishing this mission, the most prominent being a stable place to produce the concrete necessary.
To produce the correct quality concrete, the construction sailors need not only the proper quality materials, but a working batch plant, Broehm said. A batch plant is where the sand, cement and other ingredients are mixed to produce the product needed.
The unit is currently working on constructing a permanent batch plant, with a makeshift one recently becoming operational, he said.
"Getting the batch plant actually up and running for us has been the greatest difficulty for us," he said, "along with (acquiring) materials."
The importance of the batch plant deals with the necessity of producing quality concrete, concrete that meets certain standards of pounds per square inch of pressure, or PSI. If below-standard concrete is poured into the runway, it will ultimately have to be removed and redone.
"We want to make sure that we have a good quality product before we actuallyâ?¦ place anything," Broehm said. "With a good quality product, we know it will last."
An additional difficulty the unit has faced has been getting all the proper materials necessary to produce quality concrete, echoed Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael L. Hooper, 28, a native of Zanesville, Ohio.
"While we're in the states, we are used to good quality gravel that has been cleaned and sifted," Broehm explained. "Here, it is basically whatever we can get our hands on, to a certain extent."
Ultimately, Broehm said, if the unit can't get their hands on the proper materials, they cannot produce the needed product.
Several weeks into the project, with all the challenges they have faced, the unit hopes to finish one of the two sections they are repairing and have the second underway and ready to be handed over to their replacements, Broehm said.
"A lot goes into [the project]," pointed out Seaman Tim J. Whelehan, 20, a native of Honeoye, New York. "It's a difficult task to repair the runway."
"It's just different out here than any other place," he explained of the frustrations. "It can be stressful and difficult getting the materials. You just have to be patient."
In spite of the delays, Petty Officer 3rd Class Tamika L. Wiley, a 32-year-old native of Detroit, Mich., is confident that the unit will soon deliver quality runway to the servicemembers at Camp Taqaddum.
"Now that the materials are in, they are putting us back on track as far as being able to do the job," she said, adding that the runway will not only provide more comfortable rides for servicemembers, but more importantly safer air transportation.
The main body of NMCB 133 based at Camp Fallujah, Broehm said, adding that smaller detachments of the battalion are spread throughout Iraq, such as the one here at Camp Taqaddum.
The 4,000 servicemembers of 1st Marine Logistics Group, along with NMCB 133, are part of the 25,000 servicemembers of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force's forward deployed element.
The 1st MLG's mission is to provide sustained logistical support to I MEF and Iraqi security forces operating in the Al Anbar province of Iraq. First MLG will also support the development of Iraqi security force's logistic capabilities in order to enable independent ISF led counter-insurgency operations.
| Date Taken: | 02.27.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 02.27.2006 14:06 |
| Story ID: | 5529 |
| Location: | AL TAQADDUM, IQ |
| Web Views: | 91 |
| Downloads: | 29 |
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