Heavy equipment transporters loaded with M1A1 Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles sat in about a dozen single-file lines on a sandy staging area, Oct. 23, at Camp Buehring, Kuwait. An array of 30 or 40 more vehicles dotted the horizon, awaiting the rest of the trucks slated to carry them into battle.
Soldiers waited patiently in and around their already-loaded vehicles, napping, playing cards and conducting pre-combat checks. It was the proverbial calm before the storm.
The 256th Brigade Combat Team, sometimes called the "Tiger Brigade," is the first unit in the third rotation of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Dubbed OIF "04-"06 by the Pentagon to mark the years the first and last units of the rotation respectively deploy and redeploy, this installment is a leap forward in the complex reception, staging and onward integration process of units passing through Kuwait on their trip up north.
Most Soldiers with the 256th, an enhanced separate brigade made up of various Louisiana National Guard units and select Guard units from New York, Wisconsin, Minnesota and other places, are probably unaware of the problems with past OIF rotations. They weren't around for the long lines, broken cots and other inconveniences that plagued the troops who came before them.
They are, however, the first beneficiaries of a number of important improvements affecting troops making the transition from Kuwait to Iraq.
The Soldiers lauded the camp's air conditioned billets and generous portions of food served up at the dining facility. Staff Sgt. Stanley Shavers Jr., a 256th tank commander, even joked that the unit's time in Kuwait has been a little too easy.
It wasn't always that way. Some of the problems with OIF I stemmed from the fact that Coalition Forces Land Component Command didn't have all the moving parts'the area support groups, wash racks, transportation systems and the wide range of other assets needed for a successful rotation"under its control.
For the rotation from OIF 1 to OIF 2, the command tried to bring all of those parts together in one place. Doing so improved the flow of information, thus making it easier to anticipate and react to RSOI problems, said Lt. Col. Jeff Carra, chief of plans for CFLCC's deployment/redeployment operations.
Even with the consolidation of assets under CFLCC, problems still remained, Carra said. With the planning for OIF 2 focused on large logistical details like how many people were coming, what camps were going to be used and camp capacities, smaller details like Army and Air Force Exchange related services were last-minute additions to some of the camps.
CFLCC officials have incorporated the lessons learned from the past two rotations into their planning for the current OIF installment and, as a result, units traveling through Kuwait this time around should experience the smoothest rotation so far, Carra said.
"We've gotten a lot better at being able project what the requirements are going to be at all the camps during rotations," Carra said.
A key change for this rotation will be the integration of contracted drivers into U.S. military convoys, a practice started in February of 2004. Teaming the contracted drivers with military escorts, rather than letting the contractors make the dangerous journey on their own, gives planners a clear picture of where contractors are on their routes and when trucks will arrive at their destinations, Carra said.
The Soldiers of the 256th, will experience this first hand on their convoy from Buehring into Iraq. Of the 72 vehicles on their convoy, 42 were to be driven by contracted third country nationals, said Staff Sgt. William Hedges of the 2123rd Truck Company, a Kentucky National Guard Unit that assisted with the convoy.
Perhaps the most important difference between OIF "04-"06 and the previous rotation will be the timeframe. For OIF 2, the rotation of forces took place over a period of three-and-a-half months. While the numbers of deploying and redeploying troops will be about the same this time, the transition time will be spread over six or seven months, Carra said.
"One of the things we really tried to do was spread out the flow, and we've had some success," Carra said, adding that transient troop levels in Kuwait peaked at 54,000 last year. This year, plans project transient levels to top out at 46,000.
Because of this expansion in the rotation timeframe, "Tiger Brigade" soldiers were virtually the only unit rotating through Buehring. This meant little or no waiting for stops at the dining facility, Post Exchange and other services.
Another big change this year will be the rotation schedule for units based in Kuwait and Iraq that support RSOI operations. Last year those units were deploying and redeploying at the same time as combat units. This created a no-win situation for recently-deployed support units, which had to complete their mission during a population surge with relatively little experience in their deployment and theater responsibilities, said Capt. Joseph James, a CFLCC force flow analyst.
"[It was] like changing out the whole team in the ninth inning," he said. This time, RSOI units are being switched out 30 to 60 days before the major force rotations, James said.
So why has it taken the Army so long to work out the kinks in OIF's deployment/redeployment operations? James attributes the learning curve to the massive size of the rotations, which are the largest consolidated troop movements since the end of World War II.
"People say, "well, you do RSOI at [the National Training Center]." Well its nothing like this. It's like reading a comic book versus reading a college textbook. There's no comparison whatsoever," he said.
But no matter how much people like James and Carra work to make unit transitions from Kuwait to Iraq less painful and more efficient, their efforts would mean nothing without motivated troops ready to accomplish the mission. That's where the Soldiers of the 256th, a mechanized infantry unit based in Lafayette, La., come in.
"These guys who have been here for however many months, its time for them to go home and let us do our time," Shavers said.