Photo By Spc. Michele Meadows | A large pallet of cargo is unloaded off of a 62nd Quartermaster truck May 20.... read more read more
By Spc. Michele Meadows
1st Sustainment Brigade, Public Affairs Office, in support of Multi-National Division-Baghdad
CAMP STRIKER, Iraq – Recently, I had the opportunity to shadow a few drivers with the transportation platoon of the 62nd Quartermaster Company, 553rd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 1st Sustainment Brigade, to observe their day to day routine. What I witnessed was amazing.
They start their day at the dispatch office before dawn; and by 7:30 a.m. have already received their morning safety brief, risk assessment and a mission brief highlighting the transportation movement requests their mission will consist of.
From there we hit the bays to perform preventative maintenance checks and services on the vehicles they would be driving. It was here that they encountered their first challenge. The M172 trailer that Spc. Robert Seaton, a New Orleans, native, and Pfc. Daniel Yancey, a Ravenna, Ohio, native, were planning to pull had a flat tire. But, without missing a beat, they had the tire off and replaced in a matter of 20 minutes. "That was fast," I thought.
Radio checks were performed to ensure each vehicle had 100 percent communications in case of a mechanical or safely issue, and then we were on the road.
For Seaton, driving a M1088 5-ton tractor truck, with a trailer, is something totally new since he is an automated logistical specialist working as a motor transport operator. "I'm glad I was given this chance to be a driver. I don't really like a job where I have to sit at a desk all day, especially when there are places to go and sites to see," said Seaton.
As the day progressed, we picked up various classes of supplies from the arrival/departure Airfield Control Group and delivered them to different supply support activities around Victory Base Complex.
Eyeing the efficiency in which they moved cargo on and off the trailers gave me an inclination that these guys aren't playing around; they are here to get the mission done and to ensure cargo and supplies are constantly on the move to the required destinations, ensuring Soldiers outside the wire are getting adequate amounts of much needed supplies.
"We help them with their supplies so they don't have to worry about running a sidebar mission outside the wire, or worrying about having to get supplies on their recovery day when they can be relaxing. I guess you can say we are like the Army's FedEx in a small kind of way," said Seaton.
Driving down the dusty roads between stops, I discovered other facts about their platoon that I found interesting. Seaton and Yancey have been deployed with the 62nd QM Co. for almost six months now in support of Multi-National Division-Baghdad, which is a big mission, and when they encounter an Iraqi driver they will often spend a few minutes teaching the Iraqi drivers things they need to know to get a firm grip on how to transport cargo and supplies. "If they are pulling something and we are pulling something, its shows the ability of us being able to work together," said Seaton.
It's their hope that one day Soldiers are able to take a step back to let the Iraqi drivers execute the missions alone.
Once the mission was complete, we navigated back to the bays to perform a post-mission PMCS on the vehicles and close out the cargo trackers indicating what was picked up and delivered for that day. "Hopefully, tomorrow we won't come out to another flat tire," laughed Yancey.
| Date Taken: | 05.26.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 06.04.2008 04:21 |
| Story ID: | 20087 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 154 |
| Downloads: | 40 |
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