By 1st Lt. Bryan P. Langley
FORT HOOD, Texas - The 297th Inland Cargo Transfer Company, 180th Transportation Battalion, 4th Sustainment Brigade, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) went back to fundamentals for its weekly training, May 10, by camouflaging a M998 Humvee and building a field kitchen.
As a force sustainment unit, the 297th ICTC has a broad array of tasks to perfect before any future deployment. In addition to normal operations, its Mission Essential Task List requires training in food service support, equipment concealment, and field sanitation.
Although in recent years units have enjoyed established dining and hygiene facilities while deployed, Sgt. Jason P. Fruish, of Seattle, Wash., stressed the importance of focusing on basic soldier skills.
“It’s good to go back to your roots so you don’t forget the skills you might need someday.”
Among those skills is concealment from enemy air forces, which is not typically a priority in a counter-insurgency campaign.
“We’re driving trucks and Kalmars [container handling equipment]. There might be a time we have to move close to the front lines and hide along with combat arms units,” Fruish continued.
In addition, soldiers practiced setting up a Mobile Kitchen Trailer. In the event the 297th is deployed to a new theater, the MKT would provide warm meals for the unit’s soldiers.
Spc. Diana M. Murphy, a cargo specialist, found the training not only practical, but interesting.
“It was fun to watch how they set it up, going from a small, closed up box to a full kitchen to serve people,” she said.