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KABUL, Afghanistan – U.S. Army soldiers designed and built a new reinforced tower to protect Afghan security guards as they stand watch at Forward Operating Base Gardez, Paktiya province earlier this month.
The tower plans were created by U.S. Army Spc. Nathan Jastorff, supply specialist, Headquarters Company, Task Force Lethal, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment. Guards no longer have to depend on a wooden shack and Plexiglas windows for protection.
A month ago, U.S. Army 1st Sgt. James Cline, the forward operating base mayor, approached Jastorff with an idea.
“Cline wanted a new fighting position with a bunker,” Jastorff said. “We knew we wanted steel and we knew we wanted ballistic glass.”
Jastorff spent the next few days tossing ideas around in his head.
“I wanted to make something safe,” Jastorff said. “Those guards had a wooden shack with half-inch plywood.”
After a few days, it came to him. He decided to engineer it to put it on top of the bunker.
Jastorff asked the Oklahoma Agribusiness Development Team for help providing some of the materials, including the steel that would make up a large portion of the tower. He had the headquarter and headquarters company mortar platoon, lead by U.S. Army Sfc. Todd Smiley, take the steel to the firing range and test it against different caliber weapons.
With his hand-drawn schematics and the steel, Jastorff asked the maintenance shop to weld the steel to match his design, which included armored windows scavenged from an old gunner’s turret. Jastorff designed it so that a cracked or broken window can easily be removed and replaced with another one.
When the steel was finished, it was mounted on top of a reinforced bunker. With several swings of a sledge hammer, Jastorff and U.S. Army Cpl. Timothy Green got the steel structure to fit.
After two weeks of solid work, the fighting position was complete and put into place, further fortified with sand bags and barriers.
Naim, a security guard said, “This is really safe because it has windows and the metal – it’s anti-bullet. The old tower was leaking, and that was not good.”
Along with protection from the weather, the reinforced tower will provide the guards security.
“It will give them encouragement to fight, knowing they’re safe,” Jastorff said.
| Date Taken: | 02.14.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 02.14.2011 03:04 |
| Story ID: | 65391 |
| Location: | KABUL, AF |
| Web Views: | 76 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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