JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq – The 549th Quartermaster Company, 352nd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 77th Sustainment Brigade, 310th Expeditionary Sustainment Command from Fort Carson, Colo., is preparing to assume ownership of the Materiel Redistribution Yard at Joint Base Balad from one of their sister companies, the 305th Quartermaster Company, from Fort Campbell, Tenn., at the end of this month.
In September, the 549th will take responsibility of their second MRT yard in theater. They have successfully operated the MRT mission at Victory Base Complex since April of this year. The responsibilities of the “War on Excess” are not new to the 549th Black Knights who are prepared and eager to assist with the final stages of Operation Clean Sweep.
For the last few months, mobile teams have been assisting Forward Operating Bases around the central and northern regions of theater with eliminating tens of millions of dollars of excess supplies and equipment. These final months will provide the final opportunity to take advantage of the MRT teams as an outlet for their excess surplus. After the MRT mission ends in the coming weeks, units will be responsible to transport their excess back to their home station.
The MRT mobile missions will continue through the late part of October. The fixed MRT sites at both VBC and JBB will both close their gates around September to all incoming shipments. From that point, disposition of equipment will likely occur in the form of transporting a unit’s excess directly from their area of operations to DRMO or even straight to operations in Kuwait.
There is still much to be done though in Operation Clean Sweep. Units are encouraged to eliminate their extra stock piles now in lieu of waiting until base closure to do it. On JBB, the final amnesty days will occur late August. This will be the last, final push for units to utilize the usual organizations on base to turn in their excess.