CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar - Brig. Gen. Jesse Cross, who will head Third Army/U.S. Army Central logistics and serve as the Army Materiel Command - Southwest Asia commander, visited Camp As Sayliyah recently.
Cross most recently served as the Army’s Quartermaster General at Fort Lee, Va., where he also served as the commanding general of the Combined Arms Support Command and Sustainment Center of Excellence, and as the commandant of the Quartermaster School.
This visit gave Cross a better understanding of the camp’s logistic capabilities. “We will be the first thing he remembers when he comes over again,” said Lt. Col. Peter Butts, commander of 1st Battalion, 401st Army Field Support Brigade. "We became the standard.”
The camp is home to one of five Army Prepositioned Stocks units as well as the Stryker Battle Damage Assessment and Repair Facility. A Hellfire missile repair facility also falls under the battalion’s oversight.
Camp As Sayliyah’s location in Qatar, according to Cross, makes operational and financial sense for the Army and the United States as a whole, especially when it comes to the Stryker facility.
“If we can save transportation costs by not going back to [the continental United States], you’re saving a whole lot,” Cross said after touring the General Dynamics Land Systems-run program. “They get vehicles back in the fight sooner.”
And, facility production supervisor Carlton Williams, the six vehicles they repair each month can also be upgraded, if required. Facility staff pointed out to Cross some of the upgrades on a repaired Stryker during the visit.
The internationally-staffed facility impressed Cross, who was commissioned in 1979. “These guys are very capable at fixing damaged vehicles,” he said. “They take pride in their work, too. It’s not just a job for them.”