Courtesy Photo | Spc. Benjamin Turner, a Statesboro, Vt., native, Spc. James S. Behen, a Burlington,...... read more read more
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By Staff Sgt. Constance A Oberg
CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Iraq - “Great guy,” “favorite non-commissioned officer,” “awesome to work with,” “very professional,” “trust him one hundred percent when we are on the road.”
Those are just some of the comments that could be heard at the staging lanes from soldiers with the 220th Transportation Company, 394th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary).
The soldiers are talking about their commodity manager, Staff Sgt. Robert E. Short, a Pittsburgh, Pa., native, and motor transportation operator with the 220th Trans. Company.
“Best E-6 I have ever meet, old school though,” said Spc. Kevin McGuire a Shelton, Conn., native, and motor transportation operator with the 220th Trans. Company. “I trust him when I am with him out on the road. He is very intelligent with the [Heavy Equipment Transportation].”
The soldiers are all part of the platoon that go out on missions in the HET vehicle. During their training at Fort Riley, Kan., this was the first experience that many of the soldiers acquired prior to coming to theater. The training included loading tanks, and familiarizing themselves with everything on the vehicle.
“I would not want to go outside the wire with anyone else but Staff Sgt. Short, he knows his job and I trust him,” said Spc. Bow Green, a Warren N.H., native and motor transportation operator with the 220th Trans. Company. “If one of his soldiers has an issue he fixes it himself.”
Staff Sgt. Short has been deployed four times, with three of them being a motor transportation operator, and has traveled all over Kuwait and Iraq on missions. He has over nine years of experience with driving HETs, and loves sharing that knowledge with his platoon.
“When we first arrived they were just starting to learn, but as the months go on the crew really has picked up on driving the HETs.” said Short.
“I like being out in the motor pool working on vehicles, when we first heard that we were getting the HETs, a lot of the soldiers were not sure how much they would get to do with them,” added Spc. Benjamin Turner, a Statesboro, Vt., native and motor transportation operator with the 220th Trans. Company.
According to Green, there is an operator and a driver; an operator can operate the entire system of the truck, where as the driver just drives.
“There are a lot of moving pieces and a lot of parts that can break,” added Spc. Scott D. Mitchell, a Skowhegan, Maine, native, and motor transportation operator with the 220th Trans. Company. “Flat tires are one of the biggest problems we encounter.”
The trailer has 40 tires on it, which helps balance the weight out for the cargo that is being transported. The tractor is made for pulling heavy loads; it can carry anything from a tank to a connex.
When the soldiers are not out on missions, they find themselves in the motor pool performing preventive maintenance checks and services on their vehicles for the next time they are out on the road.
“On some of the missions we run a recovery vehicle, which is just the truck,” said Spc. Matthew Smyrski, an Ira, Vt., native, and motor transportation operator with the 220th Trans. Company. “When we run longer missions we have a bobtail with one recovery system which is the bobtail and trailer connected.”
“When a vehicle breaks down on a mission we don’t waste any time, we hook it up to the wrecker or load it onto one of the trailers that we have,” he continued. “We disconnect the broken down truck or trailer and hook the recovery bobtail up to the previous trailer with the load. The truck that is broken down is hooked up to the maintenance wrecker that runs with our convoys. We are able to do that in about fifteen minutes.”
“Working on the HETs is fun for me,” said Spc. James S. Behen, a Burlington Vt., native, and motor transportation operator with the 220th Trans. Company. “HETs are not made to travel fast, it is a slow haul. A lot of things can break down so you are sometimes on a mission longer due to having to stop and fix the issues.”
“It is awesome working with Staff Sgt. Short; he is like that kind of dad that you want to impress,” Behen added.
| Date Taken: | 12.17.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 01.09.2011 11:57 |
| Story ID: | 63270 |
| Location: | CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, IQ |
| Web Views: | 171 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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