SGT RACHEL BRUNE
101ST SUSTAINMENT BDE
5 NOVEMBER 2005
LSA DIAMONDBACK, Iraq -- If it breaks, someone at the 872nd Maintenance Company can probably fix it.
If you need it, someone at the 872nd can order it. Chances are, one of the Soldiers might even be able to build it for you.
The 872nd, an Army Reserve unit from Ogden, Utah, performs a wide-ranging mission including providing direct service maintenance for customer units on Diamondback to providing security at one of the LSA entrances to conducting recovery operations in the area, according to 1st Sgt. Darren Kirschman.
A tour of the 872nd, which was augmented by a detachment from the 298th Maintenance Company from Pennsylvania, shows the Soldiers of the unit working to overcome any challenges and fulfill the mission in Iraq.
First stop outside of the company headquarters is the recovery mission area. Soldiers on the recovery mission serve on standby teams in 12-hour shifts, awaiting any calls that might come in.
If any vehicle, including third country national trucks escorted by the military, breaks down or becomes inoperable on the road in the 872nd's area of operations, and cannot be transported by the unit conducting the mission, the Soldiers are ready to retrieve it.
"Within 20 minutes, our team has to be on the road," said Kirschman. "We send out the wrecker and gun trucks to secure the
area."
The unit has conducted about 20 missions since arriving in country, said Kirschman, who added: "It's been slow lately, and that's good."
The next stop is down the road at the shop office, where customers on post come to drop off work orders. Inspectors make sure that the paperwork is in order, assign the order to the correct shop and then inspect the end result, according to Master Sgt. Michael Hale, fourth platoon NCOIC, from Anna, Ohio.
"We're like the heart of the base," said Hale. "We do fabrication and radios, and we keep the trucks rolling."
In the automotive shop, mechanics work on various vehicles, performing first level maintenance after the operator-level maintenance, for units on Diamondback. The mechanics can do everything from replacing engines to rebuilding front ends, according to Hale.
"We'll do what needs to be done," said Hale. The cycle varies as far as how many vehicles the shop will see. "You have your up weeks, and you have your down weeks."
Around the corner, a loud, metallic clanging emanates from where Soldiers sort pieces of thick steel into various piles.
The shop is not staffed according to Soldiers' military occupational specialties, but rather according to their civilian skills, such as welding, said Hale.
"That's on nice thing about the Reserves," said Hale. "You bring double skills to the theater."
While the mechanics keep the trucks rolling, the communications and electronics section makes sure they can talk with each other. These Soldiers repair, install and troubleshoot radios and other electronic equipment.
Keeping the equipment in top operating order is very important for Soldiers heading out on missions, according to Sgt. Robert Lewis, an electronic device repairman from Brooklyn, N.Y. In addition to repair, Soldiers from the shop will go out about three hours before each mission to make sure communications in the vehicles are operating.
The section also repairs night vision goggles. The lightweight plastic casing on the NVGs also takes a beating on the missions.
"Someone's always pulling a wire out somewhere," said Hale. The unit fabricated mounts to make the radios better fit into the trucks. As in the welding shop, many of these Soldiers also work in the field of electronics or computers as civilians.
Out in the 872nd warehouse yard, Staff Sgt. Bart Rindlisbacher, from Smithfield, Utah, directs operations. As supply missions come in, the yard workers offload materiel and separate it according to destination.
"We break down [loads] and put them into lanes for our internal customers," said Rindlisbacher. Other materiel is earmarked to be sent to other forward operating bases such as Sykes or Q-West Base Complex.
The loads contain supplies ordered by the military as well as civilian contractors such as Kellogg, Brown & Root.
"They [KBR] order a lot of stuff," said Rindlisbacher, who oversees a team of about five Soldiers, five civilians and 18 Iraqi workers.
"Some of this stuff doesn't have paperwork," said Staff Sgt. Thomas Wright, of Altoona, Penn. "We need to research it to see where it goes."
The warehouse is the distribution point for all of northern Iraq, according to Sgt. Clay Burnett of Arlee, Mont.
"These Soldiers are the best I've ever worked with," said Burnett.
Across the street from the warehouse, stock control accepts turn-ins, controlling receipts, providing customer service and loading pallets to be deadlined.
At each section, Hale explained that only about half of the Soldiers were present. Almost every section gave up some Soldiers to provide force protection on the base or on missions.
In addition to all of these missions, the 872nd provides maintenance and food service functions for the mission support center at Habur Gate, a small outpost on the Turkey-Iraq border.
The unit has provided more than 8,500 meals to Soldiers stationed at the post, according to Kirschman.
As proof of his Soldiers accomplishments, Kirschman offers a few statistics. As of Oct. 23, the 872nd escorted 3,000 third country national trucks without a single combat loss and provided more than 5,000 hours of force protection without a single incident.
872nd Soldiers repaired more than 1,000 pieces of military and commercial equipment and processed approximately 20,125 transactions for 140 customer units, according to Kirschman. USAR