The last MRAP, a triumph of the Army Materiel Enterprise

Courtesy Photo | The last MRAP parked next to the Ocean Crescent at the Port of Ash Shuaiba, Kuwait. This Caiman was shipped with its Overhead Wire Mitigation kit still intact. (Army photo by: David Ruderman)  

KUWAIT

03.24.2012

Story by Lt. Col. Timothy Hansen 

1st Theater Sustainment Command

PORT OF ASH SHUAIBA, Kuwait - The last U.S. Army Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle to leave Iraq set sail today for its final destination at the 1st Cavalry Division Museum, Fort Hood, Texas. The giant on-board crane of the cargo ship, Ocean Crescent, deftly hoisted the 56,000-pound vehicle and lowered it into the ship’s hold for its voyage halfway around the world.

Though it was the last Army vehicle to depart Iraq, this MRAP is significant on other levels as well.

“The last vehicle in Iraq represents our nation’s efforts over the past nine years to bring freedom to the Iraqi people,” said Col. John S. Laskodi, commander of the 402nd Army Field Support Brigade.

This MRAP was built by BAE Tactical Vehicle Systems in Sealy, Texas, in October 2008 and now will be returning to its native state. According to Chief Warrant Officer Kenneth C. Lashbrook of the 1st Theater Sustainment Command’s Mobility Branch, the last MRAP will arrive at the Port of Beaumont, Texas, toward the end of April.

The 1173rd Deployment and Distribution Support Battalion was the Army unit that handled the delivery of the first MRAPs into Iraq in November 2007 and now just sent the last of this kind on its way into history. Capt. Joseph Wanat, 1173rd DDSB operations officer and unit historian, witnessed and chronicled both events.

Army nomenclature classifies this vehicle as “Truck, MRAP, LR1P-10,” but soldiers call it “the Caiman.”

Its previous owner was C Company, 3rd Special Troop Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. The baseball-size divot in the inch-thick windshield and the many dents, gouges, and scrapes are a testament to the untold number of soldiers’ lives it saved during its many patrols throughout Iraq. Its history is as telling as the nine-line medevac request scrawled in grease pencil on the gunner’s cupola window.

This MRAP is a validation of the Army Material Enterprise, a viable, results-oriented association of Army senior materiel leaders, program managers, contracting officers and commanders of numerous organizations who assemble to forge common business goals, strategies and outcomes.

“All the strategic partners of the Materiel Enterprise identified the need for the MRAP acquisition to save lives and to use these systems in theater.” remarked Col. James Kennedy, 1st TSC distribution management chief. “The Enterprise also ensured the responsible retrograde of all the equipment from Iraq.”

True to its forward-thinking nature, the Materiel Enterprise realized the need to plan and organize the Army’s withdrawal of personnel and equipment nearly a year in advance of President Obama’s 21 October 2011 public declaration to have all troops out of Iraq by the end of December. The planning required input from as high as Gen. Ann Dunwoody, commanding general of the Army Materiel Command to commanders of such units as the 402rd Army Field Support Brigade.

Materiel Enterprise logisticians communicated constantly as they identified and addressed the myriad details of accountability, line haul units, rest stops, security force elements, freight yards and troops required for the withdrawal from Iraq. This thorough planning process enabled the 1st Theater Sustainment Command, located at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, to increase the pace of withdrawal to meet President Obama’s deadline in 70 days.

Three and a half months have passed since the last MRAP left Iraq. Through the efforts of the Materiel Enterprise, all of the several thousand vehicles have been identified, tagged and marked for shipment to Army units around the globe.

According to Chief Warrant Officer Kenneth C. Lashbrook from the 1st TSC Mobility Branch, this vehicle will arrive at the Port of Beaumont, Texas, toward the end of April.

The last MRAP will stand as silent sentry of counterinsurgency warfare at the Fort Hood museum and for all to see. For the Army Materiel Enterprise, the last MRAP stands as the successful conclusion of one of the largest and quickest withdrawal efforts in Army history.

• Date Taken: 03.24.2012
• Date Posted: 04.02.2012 17:47
• Story ID: 86142
• Location: KW