Qayyarah West Base Complex, Iraq - Q-West is home to Forward Operating Base Endurance and houses coalition forces, Iraqi soldiers and civilian contractors supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Soldiers working for the Support Operations Center (SOC) from the 101st Sustainment Brigade on FOB Endurance have made a positive impact in the past seven months in Iraq by working harder at their jobs to keep Soldiers and civilian contractors off the roads.
"We do all of the management functions to make things happen," said Lt. Col. Patricia Sellers, Support Operations OIC. "Everything that keeps a Soldier on the battlefield moving, that's what we do."
The 101st SOC takes care of the logistical needs of Soldiers in northern Iraq, but more importantly, they work within the system to get more flights moving Soldiers and supplies from FOBs and logistical support areas in the north.
Sellers explained that the SOC's goals were to be effective and become more efficient where they could. To make those goals happen, the center needed to minimize the risk to Soldiers, and find the best use of their resources.
"In many cases parts were getting here quicker from the States because of the movement [of combat logistics patrols]," Sellers said.
Transporting parts or personnel from one FOB to another takes time, labor, and puts people at risk, Sellers explained.
Six months ago, parts were moving from Endurance by truck and rarely moved by plane.
"People don't realize how important flights are," said Capt. Kimberly Sorenson, a logistics officer working in the SOC. Sorenson was an aviation company commander and explained the need for flights.
"Every time you lose a vehicle [to improvised explosive devices or major accidents] it's difficult because you know you've lost Soldiers," Sorenson said.
The center worked closely with the 265th Movement Control Team to educate the 71st Corps Support Battalion on how to build pallets and secure loads of cargo to get the parts on flights coming into Q-West.
"It was a painful process but it worked," Sellers said. "We had to become educated on how to move things with aircraft."
Her team had to figure out what problems were in the system and how to work them out. Yet, their work, collecting data on incoming and outgoing parts gave them the information they needed to get more flights to their area.
When they started the process there were no dedicated flights coming into FOB Endurance.
However, the team has now worked out two days of flights a week dedicated to moving parts and flying personnel.
Their work has allowed FOB Endurance to fly more than 1,800 pallets of cargo. Flying those pallets has kept hundreds of trucks off the road. The SOC's time and effort has equated to moving parts in and out of Q-West quicker than before and kept Soldiers and civilian contractors safe.
"If we could get trucks off the road that would be great, however some things can't be flown," Sorenson said. "But to mitigate the amount of trucks on the road is our goal."
Sellers explained her Soldiers were the ones doing the work. She stated logistics needs to be a combat multiplier, but more importantly, the Support Operations Center's job is taking care of Soldiers.