Mobile readiness team deploys in support of Army

Photo By Master Sgt. John Nimmo, Sr. | Master Sgt. Kevin Jackson from Material Recovery Team III with the 732nd Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron records the product name, quantity and national stock number of the items unloaded from container express at Camp Corregidor, on Oct. 19. Serviceable assets recovered from the conex are inventoried and redistributed to other Army units throughout Iraq. Airmen of various career fields volunteer to augment the Army in non-traditional "in-lieu-of" taskings for up to a year. Johnson is deployed from Barksdale Air Force Base, La.  

BALAD, IRAQ

11.06.2007

Story by Master Sgt. John Nimmo, Sr. 

332d Air Expeditionary Wing

by Senior Airman Terri Barriere
332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq -- The members of the 732nd Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron Mobile Readiness Team are deployed here "in-lieu-of" Army forces and support the Army by recovering government assets that have been damaged, misplaced or unaccounted for in Iraq.

The team recently forward deployed to Camp Corregidor to lend a helping hand.

Senior Master Sgt. Victor Harris, MRT superintendent, said it's the team's job to go to forward operating bases, go through container expresses that are unaccounted for, and identify what's not suppose to be there. After that, team members inventory the items and return them to their proper locations.

"We go around and collect pallets no one has claimed," he said. "Then we get them back into the system so they can be reused."

A running tally is kept of the items found, which equates to money saved. Items that are recycled in theater to other units save the military and government time and money.

Not all assets can be reused. Damaged items are sent to a depot for repair. According to Lt. Col. Heather Buono, 732nd ELRS Detachment 1 commander, a lot of the things found marked unserviceable in the containers can be repaired, just not here.

To accomplish their mission, this eight-man MRT works with fellow service members all over Iraq. A 12-man detail was on hand to assist the team at Camp Corregidor.

"We get support from the base populace at the forward operating bases to help," he said. "They help us get oriented to the base and take us out to their locations."

As Airmen filling taskings typically handled by the Army, working with Soldiers is what these Airmen are trained to do. Harris said they all received on-the-job training at the beginning of their deployment in addition to one month of combat-skills training at Ft. Hood, Texas, prior to their deployment.

Army Maj. Dave Christensen, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, executive officer, is working with the team at the camp and said their help has been instrumental.

"These guys are great," said Major Christensen. "The expertise they bring and the systems they can tap into, actually get the equipment out of here and back to a unit that needs it. There is no way we could do that out here by ourselves."

Christensen said he expects the team could finish in weeks what it would have taken the soldiers several months to accomplish by themselves.

Only half way through the mission, the team has already recovered more than $1 million of inventory.

"We have only just scratched the surface and will continue to hit it hard until the job is done," said Harris.

• Date Taken: 11.06.2007
• Date Posted: 11.07.2007 02:17
• Story ID: 13697
• Location: BALAD, IQ