Fueling Dragoons - The 16th SB supports Operation Dragoon Ride

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Wyatt | Second Lt. Kyle Hensley (far right) and Sgt. Oscar Jasso (second from right) set up a refueling point as cavalrymen ended a 280 km convoy from Drowsko-Pomorskie, Poland. Hensley, the Convoy Support Team commander, and Jasso, a motor transport operator, are assigned to the 39th Transportation Battalion, 16th Sustainment Brigade, and are attached to Kilo Troop, 3rd Squadron, 2nd Calvalry Regiment for immediate logistical support for Dragoon Ride. “Dragoon Ride,” an operational movement in which 3rd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment drove their vehicles as far as 1,100 miles, and through five NATO-allied countries, back to Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany. The movement was a capstone exercise for 3-2 Cav.’s rotation under Atlantic Resolve-North, where units under U.S. Army Europe train with allied nations from the Baltics and Poland. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Daniel Wyatt, 16th Sustainment Brigade Public Affairs, 21st Theater Sustainment Command)  

VILSECK, BAYERN, GERMANY

04.10.2015

Story by 1st Lt. Henry Chan 

16th Sustainment Brigade

PRAGUE, Czech Republic – On March 31, three convoys of U.S. Soldiers, Stryker armored vehicles and support crews from NATO bases in the Baltic States and Poland converged on the Czech Army’s Prague-Ruzyne Barracks.

These men and women participated in “Dragoon Ride,” an operational movement in which 3rd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment drove their vehicles as far as 1,100 miles, and through five NATO-allied countries, back to Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany.

Dragoon Ride was a capstone exercise for 3-2 Cav.’s rotation under Atlantic Resolve-North, where units under U.S. Army Europe train with allied nations from the Baltics and Poland.

The 16th Sustainment Brigade’s 39th Transportation Battalion logistically supported “Dragoon Ride” with teams of quartermaster and transportation Soldiers attached to each troop (approximately 200 Soldiers) of Stryker armored vehicles, known as the Convoy Support Teams (CST).

“The maneuver units need support whether it is fuel, food, water or maintenance support. The Convoy Support Team is that in a nutshell,” said 2nd Lt. Kyle Hensley, CST commander for Kilo Troop, 3-2 Cav.

The three CSTs issued more than 12,000 gallons of fuel across three different routes, recovered six vehicles and repaired five of the vehicles on site.

“As an echelons-above-brigade (support) unit, we really don’t get the opportunity to work with infantrymen on a daily basis,” said Lt. Col. Steve Dowgielewicz, 39th Transportation Battalion commander. “This will really give us a great opportunity to see how they do business and how we can support them in the future.”

CST Commander 1st Lt. Lauren Lybbert was slated to command a convoy of Strykers under Lighting Troop, 3-2 Cav., when her radio malfunctioned.

She jumped onto a Lightning Troop Stryker to command the convoy and safely arrived in Krakow, Poland.

“Standing out of the hatch while you’re going 80 (kilometers per hour) … bugs hit you in the face… it was a totally new experience for me to see how (the cavalrymen) fight out of (Strykers). This helps us understand what the combat units need, and how we, as sustainers, can better support them,” Lybbert said.

Dragoon Ride improved more than just internal operations.
“Working with host nations has been an experience that I think our Soldiers will never forget,” Hensley said.

Crowds of Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Czech and German citizens gathered along the convoys’ routes to greet the passing American Soldiers with U.S. flags, gifts and warm hugs. The Soldiers would take time during each rest stop to talk to supporters and show them their vehicles.

“Up until the mission, we were getting briefs about possible protests. What amazed me is the amount of (local) people who would stand out at 9 p.m. in the freezing cold, in the rain and snow to see us drive down the road. That itself was a life-changing experience, and made us appreciate what we do,” he added.

The logistics Soldiers supported the cavalrymen all the way to the end at Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany. On April 2, columns of cavalrymen marched their Strykers with M969 fuel tankers through cheering crowds and rows of U.S. flags in front of their Regimental headquarters at Rose Barracks, as a pair of helicopters flew over.

After the parade, logistical Soldiers and Military Police attached to the convoy received a pair of silver spurs from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment; traditionally only awarded to Soldiers assigned to cavalry units.

As day broke the next morning, the fuel and transportation specialists mounted up once again, continuing another 450 kilometers, or roughly 280 miles before they reached their home in Smith Barracks, Baumholder, Germany.

• Date Taken: 04.10.2015
• Date Posted: 04.15.2015 10:26
• Story ID: 160017
• Location: VILSECK, BAYERN, DE
• Hometown: BAUMHOLDER, RHEINLAND-PFALZ, DE
• Hometown: GRAFENWOEHR, BAYERN, DE
• Hometown: VILSECK, BAYERN, DE