Photo By Cpl. John McCall | Marines with 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division (Forward), dig out a...... read more read more
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GARMSER, Afghanistan – Marines with 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division (Forward), conduct vehicle convoys throughout Afghanistan regularly, encountering improvised explosives and poorly maintained roads. During a recent convoy, Marines found themselves knee deep in mud, Jan. 24-Jan. 25.
“It’s something that always happens,” said Sgt. Catarino Briseno, 23, a motor transport operator from Beeville, Texas. “You have to be able to adapt and overcome to get yourself out of the situation as quick and safe as possible.”
The engineers of 1st CEB were called to build a small patrol base to help the Marines and sailors of 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, to maintain a presence in a new area. Unfortunately, the terrain was made up of flooded fields, with few dry spots. Terrain the engineers say is ideal for construction, but not so much for travel with heavy equipment vehicles.
“There are always different challenges that come along with each mission,” said Sgt. Fredrick Lugalia, 27, a heavy equipment operator from Houston. “The terrain dictates a lot, the soil has to be a certain way for things to work quickly and efficiently.”
With multiple deployments to Iraq under his belt, Lugalia had never been faced with Afghanistan’s challenging terrain.
“When I was in Iraq there was a lot more desert,” Lugalia said. “You didn’t have to deal with the canals and farmland that Afghanistan has.”
On their way to the suggested building site, the lead vehicle got stuck in a mud patch. A vehicle in the convoy was sent forward to recover it, but in doing so the recovery vehicle became trapped itself. A process that became routine as Marines recovered and got stuck again numerous times trying to leave the area. Troops were forced to dig out vehicles with shovels to free them from the soft, muddy terrain.
“We had to think quickly, get the vehicles unstuck and continue moving so that we could accomplish the mission and get these positions built,” Lugalia explained.
Slowly pushing back to where they came from, Marines filled sand bags to put in the road to help vehicles get traction as they drove through the mud.
Eventually, the convoy recovered all their vehicles and moved on to another site to build a patrol base in support of 2/1.
| Date Taken: | 01.30.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 02.05.2011 11:23 |
| Story ID: | 64876 |
| Location: | GARMSER, AF |
| Web Views: | 339 |
| Downloads: | 4 |
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