- Army Reserve boats like this deliver
the equipment the soldiers need
to sustain the Army's war fighting efforts.
US Army Reserve soldiers practice
their ability to bring ships to shore
and provide a vital lifeline for
the army during a theater opening exercise
at joint expeditionary base
Little Creek Fort Story Virginia.
Staff Sergeant Page from the 338 Harbor Master
Operations Detachment explains the operations
and challenges faced during this exercise.
- Theater opening exercise is us
simulating going into a theater
and providing logistics over the shore
and pushing cargo inland.
When we arrived here we were in the face of a nor'easter.
That nor'easter produced water
and wind states that wouldn't allow us to perform
our mission at the original location.
Because of that we had to jump talk
to this location and this is where
we started the operations.
We had to adapt and overcome those adversities.
We lost some tents and other equipment due to the wind
but due to the ingenuity of the soldiers
we overcame all of those things.
- [Noelle] Reserve soldiers work with both active
and reserve boat crews to transport equipment and vehicles.
Staff sergeant Phillip Coleman with
the 97th transportation company explains
this vital operation.
- The purpose of this mission
is to exercise what is known as a LOTS.
A logistics over the shore.
It's a training exercise we conduct very often
so we can move cargo vehicles
or any type of assets from ship to shore.
My personal goal for each and every soldier
in this mission whether they're
on this vessel or not is to have
a firm understanding of what is going on
and to gain some knowledge out of it.
- [Noelle] This water craft operation is vital
for soldiers to be able to efficiently load
their equipment to be transported anywhere in the world.
- Doing operations like this is important
because it gives us the opportunity
to exercise our equipment and dust
off old skill sets that we might
not have been proficient in or
that we need to become more proficient in.
Training is always important because
if you don't use it you lose it
and that is what this mission
provided us the opportunity to do.
As most of our NCOs have just returned
from a deployment two years ago
I am fully confident in my units ability
to support the mission and do fine just over the shore.
- This training will ensure America's Army Reserve
is capable of sustaining the force
for as long as it takes.
Reporting from Fort Story Virginia,
I'm specialist Noelle Williams.