Courtesy Photo | A soldier with Company Alpha, 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 163rd Infantry Regiment,...... read more read more
By: Staff Sgt. Anthony Lewis
CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq - The completion of a successful mission is dependent on the preparation and planning that takes place long before the vehicles roll outside of the wire. Each mission has three stages; prep day, the mission itself, and the recovery operations that are completed after the mission.
Prep day takes place in the motor pool, where all of the mine resistant ambush protected vehicles are lined up. Soldiers spend most of the day checking all of the vehicles and equipment that are required for their mission. The drivers thoroughly check over the vehicles to ensure that they are ready for movement, the gunners check their weapons and ammo, and the vehicle commanders prepare the communications equipment and make any additional changes that are necessary.
“It’s like the winding of a clock; it never ends,” said Spc. Tim Anthony, a dismounted soldier with Company Alpha, 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 163rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Sustainment Brigade, 310th Expeditionary Sustainment Command and a Lewiston, Mont., native.
The more that soldiers prepare their vehicles and equipment, the faster and more efficiently they complete the task. Prep day ends with a quick brief by the non-commissioned officers to ensure that everything is ready for the next phase.
Mission day begins with a set wake-up to ensure soldiers sleep for a required amount of time. The sleep schedule can be one of the most challenging things about a mission. Missions can be conducted at odd hours that don’t necessarily coincide with regular sleep schedules and can make even the simplest details more complicated.
“Sleep schedules vary so much that it can be hard for your body to adjust,” said Spc. Keith Lewis, a dismounted soldier with Company A, 1-163rd CAB and a Bozeman, Mont., native.
Some of the most important events of mission days are pre-combat checks and pre-combat inspections. Every soldier lays their equipment out next to the vehicles, and a checklist is completed to ensure that everything is present and accounted for. Once the checks are complete, the crews load up into their vehicles and move to link up with the vehicles that they will be escorting over the roads of Iraq.
Upon completion of a successful mission, the work is not over. Once the soldiers have gotten a few hours of sleep, recovery day begins.
Drivers thoroughly inspect and maintain their vehicles, gunners clean their assigned weapons and ammo and the soldiers conduct an after-action review.
| Date Taken: | 04.21.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 05.15.2011 03:39 |
| Story ID: | 70398 |
| Location: | CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, IQ |
| Web Views: | 54 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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