Photo By Staff Sgt. Richard Wrigley | The command teams of Fort Stewart Garrison, the 526th Engineer Company, the 92nd...... read more read more
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FORT STEWART, Ga. - “We were pulled together, for a real win.”
That was part of the opening statements made by 1st Lt. William Sauer, a platoon leader within the 526th Engineer Company, 92nd Engineer Battalion “Black Diamonds,” during a groundbreaking ceremony held here at Holbrook Pond, Dec. 3.
Sauer was referring to the relatively long list of organizations that came together to help make possible a new and improved running trail at Holbrook Pond, which is slated to be completed over the next few months.
The Department of Public Works, the Department of Morale, Welfare, and Recreation, the Fort Stewart Environmental Division, and the Forestry Division, just to name a few, collaborated with the Black Diamonds in order to make this project more than just an idea.
The real story, however, is just how much money they’ve saved in the process.
Traditionally, a project of this nature would have been outsourced to civilian contractors, and in turn cost a lot more money. The real savings seems to be in not having to rent the necessary equipment, and pay the large labor fees associated with a civilian workforce.
“We have that equipment on hand…and [our] troop labor costs significantly less than their civilian counterparts,” said Capt. Ian Riley, commander, 526th Eng. Co. “Not only is this saving a lot of money, but it is also continuing to train our Soldiers on tasks that we can use in contingency operations, so really were getting both benefits.”
Benefits indeed, the amount being saved is to the tune of more than 160,000 dollars.
“You couldn't ask for a better situation for the unit, the post, and the taxpayers,” explained Col. Townley Hedrick, commander of Fort Stewart.
The value to the post is hard to deny, as it means an improvement in the facilities here, even during a time where budgets for such endeavors are being drastically cut.
It is probably safe to say that it would not have been possible five years ago, when the deployment schedule and operational speed were grueling for the Black Diamonds.
“Since we’ve slowed down our op-tempo for contingency operations, we’ve been able to focus our efforts more on troop-labor construction projects [here at home],” said Riley.
It’s a situation that few want to see change.
“We count on the 92nd Engineers as an integral part of the Fort Stewart Garrison and DPW team,” said Hedrick.
Ultimately however, it’s a great story for the Soldiers of the Black Diamond battalion.
“The big take away from this is that this is what the Soldiers love to do,” said Riley. “This is what they want to go out and do every day, and the more projects we can get like this, the more time we can allot to building construction projects, the better off the Soldiers are going to be [in terms of] their preparedness to deploy oversees.”
| Date Taken: | 12.09.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 12.09.2015 16:32 |
| Story ID: | 184027 |
| Location: | FORT STEWART, GEORGIA, US |
| Web Views: | 225 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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