Courtesy Photo | Staff Sgt. Obbina Awusah, from Brandywine, Md., pitches in to clean Mine Resistant...... read more read more
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By Sgt. David Turner, 2nd Brigade Combat Team,
3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs Office
FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq – On a typical Saturday morning back home in Minerva, Ohio, Spc. Joshua Wahn might be washing his car or one of his two trucks.
This Saturday, however, he spent the morning pressure-washing Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles and Humvees as part of the 26th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division's "maintenance day" on May 3
The 26th BSB keeps hundreds of various vehicles ready for mission in their area of operation. A year spent already in Iraq, however, has not been kind to these machines.
"Every day is maintenance day," said Capt. Carey Way, commander of Company A, 26th BSB. "But since we've been here a year, a lot of these vehicles have taken a beating."
Carey's company handles distribution and is in charge of heavy vehicles like the tank-hauling heavy equipment transports. Much of the time, his vehicles drive on poorly-paved or dirt roads, in a hot, dusty environment.
"Our vehicles get a lot more wear and tear over a year than you would just driving on city streets," he said.
Historical data says that a year in Iraq puts ten years of wear and tear on combat vehicles, said Maj. Henry Young, 26th BSB executive officer.
Having a battalion-wide maintenance day, he said, is the best way to make sure essential equipment will last until the brigade's mission is complete.
"We're recharging, maintaining the force," Young said. "And we're taking time to help sustain ourselves."
With a year's worth of hard miles on the odometer and more than two months to go, it's a struggle to keep these machines in top-working order, Way said.
Way added that while his Soldiers have done a great job keeping their vehicles on the road, maintenance day is a way for them to fight complacency.
"We're here to make sure our vehicles are ready for the rest of the haul," he said.
Nobody is excluded from maintenance day, said Company B commander Capt. Tim Page.
"We told everyone in the battalion, 'this is your place of duty for today,'" he said.
During the day, Soldiers performed routine maintenance checks and services, but also paid particular attention to repairing and maintaining air conditioning, radios and other devices.
"The Soldiers out on the road understand that equipment has to be up," Young said. "It has to be rolling because it's a lifeline."
| Date Taken: | 05.04.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 05.05.2008 17:26 |
| Story ID: | 19139 |
| Location: | ISKANDARIYAH, IQ |
| Web Views: | 338 |
| Downloads: | 297 |
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