BAUMHOLDER, Germany - The 16th Sustainment Brigade’s 39th Transportation Battalion, 635th Movement Control Team, or Task Force Tusker, sent Soldiers and civilian workers to load equipment onto rail cars April 28 and 29.
Through the two days of rail operations, TF Tusker loaded 40 pieces of equipment – including tracked vehicles, fuel tanker trailers onto 19 specialized railcars.
The equipment was slated to support the 16th Sustainment Brigade’s support to exercise Combined Resolve II in the Hoenfels Training Area.
This was their first experience for some Soldiers to load railcars. The 635th MCT used this mission to reinforce rail load fundamental training.
Awaiting the shipment arrival at the Parsburg railhead was Luitpold Schiessl, a German national working as the branch movement control team chief of the Hohenfels area, under the 39th Transportation Battalion, 16th SB.
“I started working transportation for the [U.S. Army] since 1978,” said Shiessel.
A BMCT manages any civilian-related transportation requests for the Army, including rail, road, and sometimes air or sea.
“It has been four years since we have shipped something this big by rail. We used to move a lot more by rail, it’s the easiest way for heavy transport, because you don’t need road clearance,” said Schiessel. “It can take up to two or three weeks to get road clearance in Germany, and every state you pass through you will need a different clearance. With the rail, you normally get your clearance within 72 hours.”
The 39th MCB plans on taking on more rail missions to develop a brigade level, rail load operations guidelines for other 16th Sustainment Brigade Soldiers to supplement the current Surface Defense Distribution Component and manuals.