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FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan – In a large maintenance bay on Forward Operating Base Salerno, U.S. Army Sgt. Christopher Cates, a welder from Friendswood, Texas, and U.S. Army Spc. Anthony Fludd, a mechanic from Washington, D.C., are hard at work on April 6.
At his station, Fludd is working on a tactical light mount for a vehicle while Cates is preoccupied with building a set of pull-up bars.
These two soldiers and their 11 comrades of the Maintenance Platoon, Company G, 201st Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Task Force Duke, work hard at Forward Operating Base Salerno to ensure the task force can both roll out on the battlefield and keep the FOB functioning as well.
The soldiers of the Company G “Grey Wolves” perform essential tasks from within the confines of their bay as well as outside the wire. They are kept busy with welding projects, repairs, ordering and replacing parts, and performing guard duties, while constantly on stand-by for a broad spectrum of missions.
“Long hours and hard work is the best way I would describe what’s being done here,” said U.S. Army Capt. Brian Thompson, commander of Company G, and a native of Newport, R.I.
The Maintenance Platoon has eight personnel responsible for the recovery aspect of quick reaction force missions who, at a moment’s notice, might have to drop whatever project they’re working on to roll out, support, and recover any downed vehicle.
The Grey Wolves have conducted 10 missions to date outside the wire. One of them in particular stands out as a tough mission that they were able to complete successfully, said Thompson.
“Recently we had to go out on a vehicle recovery and casualty evacuation mission where we had to provide some medical assistance and security,” said Thompson.
They recovered the vehicle and stabilized the casualty, but they weren’t done yet.
“On our way back we had a vehicle rollover,” said Thompson. “So with one truck already on the wrecker, it was a matter of towing the newly disabled vehicle back with the materials on hand, like cargo straps and winches.”
Despite the surprises along the way, the Grey Wolves successfully completed that mission, and returned to their everyday job of repairing the broken vehicles and equipment.
Along with vehicle recoveries and daily duties, the Maintenance Platoon also includes a small team that goes out to the Combat Outposts to repair and maintain the artillery pieces.
This team includes U.S. Army Spc. Ryne Krites, a small-arms and artillery mechanic from Wooster, Ohio.
“We can count on all of our guys to get the job done,” said Krites, confident in his unit handling everything from vehicles disabled by enemy attacks and equipment failures to casualty evacuation missions.
“Without maintenance, a lot of things wouldn’t happen,” said Warrant Officer Dewayne Evans, the Grey Wolves Maintenance Platoon leader from Columbus, Ga.
“All of our guys work hard to ensure that the guns fire and the vehicles roll,” he added.
| Date Taken: | 04.06.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 04.10.2011 11:57 |
| Story ID: | 68530 |
| Location: | FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, AF |
| Web Views: | 247 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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