Fuelers have expanded mission at Habur Gate

Photo By Sgt. Marshall Thompson | Spc. Chong Lor, a petroleum supply specialist from the 305th Quartermaster Company, fills up a U.S. vehicle just as it rolls in from a convoy at Habur Gate on April 28.  

HABUR GATE, IRAQ

06.09.2006

Courtesy Story

207th Public Affairs Detachment

HABUR GATE, Iraq " Fueling vehicles to run supplies to all of northern Iraq is one of the most important missions of this small base, but with refined fuel increasingly harder to find, it has become even more important.

Originally, a team of three petroleum supply specialists from the 305th Quartermaster Company, fueled all the U.S. vehicles that passed through Habur Gate. In February, Turkey stopped refining fuel for Iraq making it impossible for the third country national truck drivers to have enough fuel to make it to Logistical Support Area Diamondback or the Q-West Base Complex.

To keep supplies running, a second team of petroleum supply specialists from the 454th Transportation Company moved to Habur Gate to fuel the TCN trucks.

"We support convoys by running a fueling point," said Sgt. Richard Becker, the fuel point NCOIC at Habur Gate from the 305th.

"We also do an additional mission by fueling the TCN trucks, which carry supplies to northern Iraq."

Spc. Alex Mutko, a petroleum supply specialist from the 454th, said that their record for fueling TCN vehicles is 198 in one day.

"We started out at nine in the morning and finished at seven thirty at night," said Sgt. Pete Haspeslagh, a petroleum supply specialist with the 454th. "We cleared out the whole lot."

In February, the teams fueled nearly 2,000 TCN vehicles with more than 100,000 gallons of fuel. In March, the teams only fueled about 1,500 TCN vehicles with approximately 60,000 gallons because more refined oil was coming across the border. Becker didn't have the numbers yet for

April or May, but he said they were up around February's levels.

Becker said the teams keep an account of all the fuel they disperse and the contracting companies that work with the truck drivers will pay back the Army at a later date.

For Mutko, it's a great experience to provide fuel for the TCNs in Habur Gate.

"Down in Q-West, you're isolated and you don't get to interact with the people and make friends," Mutko said. "I always love getting out there and seeing different places."

Haspeslagh agreed that they had a rare opportunity to make friends with people from different cultures. He said, in particular, they have become friends with the people to whom they provide fuel.

"By the time they come back, they already recognize us and we recognize them, and it's like we're friends," Haspeslagh said.

The fuel specialists at Habur Gate usually work long hours, staying up late to meet the incoming combat logistics patrols and waking up early to fuel TCN trucks and top off the outgoing CLPs.

"Up here, I feel the fuelers have one of the most important jobs," Becker said. "We're the first thing people see when they come through the gate. Without us, they couldn't roll."

• Date Taken: 06.09.2006
• Date Posted: 06.09.2006 13:07
• Story ID: 6765
• Location: HABUR GATE, IQ