Reporting from Wilhelmshaven, Germany-- Maj. Ben Hurley, 838th Transportation Battalion, 598th Transportation Brigade sits next to his communication gear in a tiny office at the port of Wilhelmshaven in Northern Germany with a concerned look on his face. He has received reports of a strange object floating in the waters just outside the port. His team is on an ammunition resupply mission and reports like this one he just received are not to be taken lightly.
“It is extremely dangerous,” Hurley said as his team have trained for possible surveillance from the U.S. Military’s adversaries. “We only bring the most trained and most professional people out here and we keep our footprint as small as possible just to reduce risk to the mission. They absolutely bring their “A” game.”
Just a few hundred yards away Sgt. Jonathan Bedy, 18th Military Police Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command is preparing to do their security checks as ammunition containers move from the vessel to rail cars to resupply the war fighter.
“Being able to supply real Soldiers with real ammunition it feels great to help their unit, our unit and everybody as a whole.”
It is a young crew and Sgt. Bedy is the highest-ranking non-commissioned officer leading the security detail. He hopes experiences like this one, with a heightened sense of urgency thrown in, allows his teammates to level up their experience and sharpen their skills.
“We do so much training and not a lot of Soldiers are able to take that training and put that into real world,” Bedy said.
According to Thomas Brewer, Deputy to the Commander, 598th Transportation Brigade the current U.S Army Transportation Command and its past iterations has not had a major explosion at a port while moving ammunition since 1944 and the Port Chicago Disaster at what is now known as Military Ocean Terminal Concord. 320 people were killed when the U.S. Navy moved ammunition from a vessel to the port, ignited and exploded.
As the security teams around the port of Wilhelmshaven send in their updated reports Hurley’s face starts to brighten. It turns out what was floating in the water was debris or a false alarm to the perceived security threat.
And that means Hurley and Sgt. Bedy can return to focusing on the main task of working with the many moving parts of Soldiers, civilians, contractors and local nationals to make the mission successful.
“It is great to see that 21st TSC has our back and that we are able to help each other,” Hurley said. “Support each other from port to port and back.”