Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Debralee Lutgen | Army Reserve Spcs. Michael Billings (left), from Memphis, Tenn., and Todd Thomas, from...... read more read more
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FORT MCCOY, Wis. – Sitting in a vehicle taller than the others in the convoy, the team has a privileged vantage point necessary to complete their mission.
The team, Army Reserve Spcs. Todd Thomas and Michael Billings are on a route clearance mission in a Buffalo mine-protected vehicle.
These Soldiers of the 441st Engineer Company, Route Clearance, out of Millington, Tennessee, recently attended Combat Support Training Exercise 14-02 at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, where they honed their skills in route clearance with the Buffalo by working on interrogation, the process of investigating potential improved explosive devices.
The Buffalo is a mine-protected, six-wheeled, heavily armored clearance vehicle. It has one rear door and six top-side hatches as well as seats for six crew including driver and co-driver. The vehicle stands 13-feet high and exceeds 70,000 pounds.
This impressive vehicle interrogates potential IEDs with a claw and scoop attached to a robotic arm extending up to 30 feet. A camera is also mounted on the arm scanning for IEDs when stored atop the vehicle and providing a closer look at potential IEDs while the team interrogates.
Thomas, a Jackson, Tennessee, native, and Billings, from Memphis, Tennessee, both have been in the Army for five years; however, while Thomas has operated the Buffalo his entire career, including while deployed to Afghanistan from 2010 to 2011, Billings has only operated it for a year and a half. That difference in experience allows Thomas to mentor Billings in Buffalo operation, but Billings also shares his knowledge.
“I constantly ask him a ton of questions, and we talk about overseas experiences he’s had and different scenarios,” said Billings. “If I have something I don’t know, he’s already telling me, or if he has something, vise versa.”
While they agreed when they arrived at Fort McCoy that their teamwork was solid, it was established well before their boots hit the ground and that relationship made their training more bearable.
“So, it’s been right at three years that we’ve known each other. We’ve been in the same squad … We’re similar in age, and we’re college students so we built a close connection that way,” said Billings “We both try to make it as much fun as possible and enjoy the time while we’re up here because…”
“You go crazy if you don’t,” Thomas said, completing his sentence.
“It’s five miles an hour, 10-hour missions,” continued Billings. “If you don’t have something to motivate you, to drive you and a good team, you just end up getting complacent and falling asleep.”
While the team fights restlessness, some people already think they’re already off their rocker because they interrogate IEDs.
“I get that all the time,” said Thomas. “I go, ‘Yeah, I’m the one that goes and digs up the bombs’ and they go, ‘You’re crazy.’ I wouldn’t want any other position in the convoy ... I want to be the one up there on the IED, knowing what is down there and knowing that I found that. It makes me feel good.”
While finding and disposing of an IED gives the team a sense of satisfaction, getting there is another range of emotions.
“The fear is there, the excitement is there and the nervousness is there. You have to prepare yourself and have the mentality,” said Billings. “I tell the guys all the time: ‘Don’t go out looking for death. Don’t try to find out how or if you’re going to die because you’ll never see it coming.’ You can’t go looking for it, you just have to use the knowledge the military taught us and run with it.”
The mentality the team maintains is what keeps them going and keeps them looking for another potential IED to interrogate.
“They might immobilize our vehicle, but our mentality is we’re going to find it before it finds us,” said Billings.
To help in that search is the Husky Vehicle Mounted Mine Detector, a wheeled landmine detection and route clearance system. The vehicle is equipped with ground penetrating radar to detect landmines and IEDs.
“It is mainly the Huskies that find the IED,” said Thomas. “When they think they have something, that’s when we come up. People will say ‘good job,’ but it’s mainly on the Husky drivers doing their job and knowing what to look for.”
While it may be argued the Huskies are actually the safer of the two vehicles, Thomas and Billings prefer being in the Buffalo for a more hands-on approach.
“You get more up-close and personal with this whenever you find an IED. You’re the one who gets to dig it up and you get to see the IED,” said Thomas. “The Husky doesn’t get to see it. (The Buffalo) gets to see what it is, see if it’s a pressure plate, if it’s a command wire. I would rather be the one up there digging on it. I like to be up close to it.”
Billings echoes that sentiment.
“When we find something, the Huskies will find it and mark it, but we’re the ones who uncover it,” he said. “When we uncover something, we just prevented this from going off and killing somebody, so that’s the biggest adrenaline rush for us.”
In addition to enjoying what they do, while with the Buffalo, the team seems to gain instant celebrity status.
“Everybody wants to ride in the Buffalo … whenever we drive around on base, every person will have their cell phones glued to their windshield, just taking pictures. They don’t know what it is,” said Thomas. “Whenever we’re out here doing the drills, people will be like, ‘what is that? What is it called?’ We’ll have sergeants major and colonels taking pictures of it. It’s pretty cool.”
While they are of interest, Billings and Thomas don’t hear a lot of attaboys, but that’s fine with them, as long as they’re making a difference and they have each other.
“That’s what’s worthwhile is knowing that we helped, we did our part right there and nobody has to tell us good job because we’re going to tell it to each other,” said Billings.
| Date Taken: | 05.27.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 05.27.2014 13:08 |
| Story ID: | 131190 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Hometown: | JACKSON, TENNESSEE, US |
| Hometown: | MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, US |
| Hometown: | MILLINGTON, TENNESSEE, US |
| Web Views: | 935 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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