Photo By Spc. Micah Clare | Army Pfc. Isaac Odhiambo, a fueler from Company E, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 503rd...... read more read more
By Spc. Micah E. Clare
4th Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs
PAKTIKA, Afghanistan- A haze of dark, coarse dirt hung thickly in the air, coating the workers as they perspired and grunted in the golden glow of the late afternoon sun. They had been filling sandbags since dawn, even though they had only arrived at the isolated base late the night before after a grinding 15-hour trip.
"Just 300 more sandbags," someone called out.
It was almost dusk and the real work for the week hadn't even started yet.
The harsh winter of Afghanistan's Paktika province is on the way, and it is not stopping for anyone.
Paratroopers of the Market Garden Combat Logistics Patrol, 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, had arrived to stock the 173rd Airborne Brigade's "Sky Soldiers," based at the remote Bandar Command Observation Post, with enough food, fuel and supplies to make it through the next few months.
"Once it snows, the only way in and out of here will be by air," said Army Staff Sgt. Gerald Mickelson, the CLP platoon sergeant from Monroe, Ga. "This place is going to be practically closed off."
He had been told that the mission to winterize the Bandar COP was going to be difficult, but his team had heard that before.
It was Wednesday, Oct. 10, and the list of tasks was daunting: build and fill a 50,000 gallon "fuel farm," install a trailer-sized refrigeration unit, extend the outpost's helicopter landing zone with excavation vehicles and stock the COP's supply of food and water for the next few months by facilitating one of the largest air-supply drops in the history of Operation Enduring Freedom, all in just six-to-eight days, Mickelson explained.
"We're going to get it done in three," he said confidently.
Furthermore, as the dust finally began to settle as the first day's laborious sandbag filling came to a close; it was easy to see how.
"These guys are breaking their backs doing this," said Army Master Sgt. Stephen Widener, 782nd BSB's Force Protection non-commissioned-officer-in-charge from Dallas Texas, as he helped shovel the dirt that was beginning to shape the sides of the rectangular pit of the fuel farm.
Tomorrow, they will be able to lay down a liner and start getting the giant fuel bag in place, he said.
Throwing down a shovel and stretching her strained back, Spc. Dallas Hopkins, one of the CLP's medics from Rowlett, Texas, knew she had put in a good day's work.
"I know my back is going to hurt tonight," she said "Going to sleep at night is always a good experience for us."
A team had already left to survey the drop-zone for the next day's airdrop in the valley below.
"It's going to be quite a show," said Air Force Capt. Brian Beisheim, a C-130 pilot from Fayetteville, N.C., who was acting as the Air Mobility liaison officer for the drop. He hoped everything would go smoothly.
"This is an exceptionally big drop," he explained. "I've never actually heard of anything like this."
The first vehicles rolled down the steep road down into the valley at 6 a.m. on Thursday. It was brisk at first, but as the sun cast long shadows across the nearby ruins, the valley warmed up and the CLP's larger vehicles made their way into a waiting formation.
Hours later, two C-17 Globemasters could be heard high overhead making their first pass over the landing zone. On their third pass, a thick trail of Combat Delivery System bundles came pouring out of the aircraft's open cargo doors. The emerald green parachutes furled open, a sharp contrast against the clear blue sky, bringing all but one of the bundles safely to the ground.
Immediately, the trucks on the ground roared to life and drove into the mess of tangled risers and billowing chutes, where the 782nd Paratroopers laboriously spent the next four hours collecting parachutes and recovering boxes. Sling loaders were busy hoisting the bundles up off the ground onto the backs of their heavy trucks with cranes. Helicopters came from a nearby base to airlift them back to the COP, nestled high up on a plateau.
When all the bundles were cleared from the drop-zone, the team worked together to move the collected parachutes into the helicopters for transport back to Forward Operating Base Salerno.
The team had collectively muscled more than 15 tons of water, food, parachutes and packing materials.
"Everything we do involves manual labor," Mickelson commented, his face caked with powdered sand from the many helicopter passes. "It always does, every time. It's just part of our days work, and when we go out to a mission, we expect to work our backs off."
When the CLP vehicles returned to Bandar COP, the recovery team was amazed to find that the fuel farm was mostly constructed by the team members left behind, who along with the Paratroopers of the 173rd BCT, unloaded the supply bundles brought by the helicopters and stored the packages of meals-ready-to-eat, bottled water, fruit and other food and drink items.
The sizeable refrigeration unit had already been lifted over the walls of the post by a crane the CLP had escorted.
It was again well after dark by the time everyone was able to call it quits for the day, eat dinner, make use of the facility's showers and go to bed.
The next day started with another early morning, as all the team had to do was finish setting up the fuel farm, stabilize it with hundreds of sandbags and start filling it with fuel. Others used their small excavation vehicles to expand the landing zone for helicopters bearing supplies and personnel.
By mid-day, all tasks were completed.
Looking at the Bandar COP's dining facility packed with food and water, the plump 50,000 gallon storage of fuel and a freshly up-sized HLZ, the 782nd Paratroopers were very proud of themselves.
"We just supplied these guys for a whole winter," said Army Sgt. Ronnell Williams, one of the platoon sling-loaders from Kansas City, Mo. "Not everyone gets to see the effects of something they've put so much hard work into."
Keeping Soldiers supplied with what they need to keep fighting the enemy is what the logistics mission is all about, Widener agreed.
"That is exactly what these guys are doing," he said.
| Date Taken: | 10.19.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 10.19.2007 12:04 |
| Story ID: | 13123 |
| Location: | AF |
| Web Views: | 790 |
| Downloads: | 641 |
This work, 782nd BSB prepares 173rd for the 'Big Chill', by SPC Micah Clare, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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