Photo By 1st Lt. Tomas Rofkahr | Private First Class Jose Perez, 420th Engineer Brigade and Sergeant Thomas M. Cox,...... read more read more
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By Army 1st LT Tomas Rofkahr
TF Castle Public Affairs
COMBAT OUTPOST ZEROK, Afghanistan – It doesn't seem like much, just a small and rather steep looking hill outside Combat Outpost Zerok. It's not until you get close to the hill named after a major league baseball team, that you get a true appreciation for just how challenging the grade really is.
For the small survey team from Task Force Castle's 420th Engineer Brigade, the hill was the objective for an early morning topographical survey. Maneuver forces needed a new observation post and they called the Castle team in to survey potential candidates.
The engineers were eager to get started, Zerok's cool mountain mornings give way quickly and are replaced by a dry heat that makes Soldier's feel like they're only a short distance from the sun itself, said a team member. Survey gear packed and protective gear on, the team ate a hurried breakfast and performed last minute checks of their rucks, ensuring they had all the gear they needed, and that they packed enough water to last through the walk up the hill and the survey mission to follow.
For Master Sgt. Esley Gustafson, CTF Castle's Construction Management non-commissioned officer in charge, and the team leader of the survey mission, the walk up was more than just a test of endurance, it was a litmus test for future missions in the region.
"It's important we learn everything we can from this first survey," he said. "We learn a lot from the smaller jobs we do, we can take those lessons on to larger projects. Today's mission is perfect, it's a small hill with a relatively small footprint on top, not too bad."
His team members, Sgt. Peter Wislotski and Pfc. Jose Perez, shouldered their packs and cast looks toward their team leader. Each of them was loaded down with 35-40 pounds of survey gear in addition to body armor, water and ammunition. The weight of it all together hovered uncomfortably close to 100 pounds.
"Yeah – not too bad," Wislotski said confidently, then slowly backed up until he could rest his bulging rucksack against the fender of an up armored Humvee.
The Task Force Castle Team included a small detachment of engineers from the Organ-E based 68th Combat Support Equipment Company as well. The 68th CSE team was lead by Capt. Ezekiel Moreno and included several surveyors. The 68th's mission was twofold; they were there to assist with the survey and to recon the terrain on top of the hill.
"We're the folks that are going to build the OP, so we need to see the ground we're working on," said Moreno.
The ground they worked on was in a word – steep. After linking up with their security element, a platoon of paratroopers from Charlie Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade, the engineers and infantry Soldiers moved out in a tactical formation and started the slow and steady ascent.
The paratroopers, used to moving up and down the rugged Afghan terrain were instantly able to pick out the fastest route up the tall, sandy hill. While the approach they chose was a quick blast up a long finger of red-brown earth that jutted out of the hill face, it was also a precarious and nerve-wracking climb. For the engineers, their packs stuffed with survey equipment and bristling with parachute cloth covered tripods, the desire to keep up with their security element was mitigated by the need to place each footstep carefully.
After about an hour of careful walking and even crawling up some of the steeper parts of the hill face, the first squads of the security element made the military crest of the hill and began to methodically clear the hilltop itself. Only after this was complete did the Castle engineers move forward and start to download their gear.
After catching their breath, Perez and Pfc. Kevin Macallister from the 68th CSE unlimbered their survey base station's tripod and began to put the highly-technical GPS receiver into action. Perez and Macallister worked quickly, but carefully, the bright yellow survey unit was extremely ruggedized and amazingly accurate – but it was also effectively useless if one of its many cables is connected wrong.
With the base station finally in place, Wislotski worked to ensure that the system was getting a satellite lock while Perez and Macallister turned their attention to the monopod mounted survey rover units.
As his team worked to prepare the gear, Gustafson walked the terrain with Moreno and discussed potential routes they might bring heavy equipment up the hill in the future.
The topographic survey of the hilltop they prepared for helped the follow on construction teams make decisions about how to manage their work, Wislotski explained.
"With the topo done, the guys moving earth will know what they need to cut and what they need to fill," he said.
With everything in place, the base station and rover units configured, the team split up and prepared to move out over the hilltop. There was only one problem.
"We're not getting a satellite lock," Wislotski said with a frown. Gustafson moved in to check the settings on the base station while Perez and Wislotski started to go through a checklist to troubleshoot the rovers. Nearby paratroopers eyed the high tech survey gear and it's bright, almost neon yellow paint. Perez shook his head as he and Wislotski double check the rovers software configurations.
"Tens of thousands of dollars worth of survey gear and you think the manufacturer would have painted it something tactical," he said.
After a few tense minutes checking and rechecking the survey systems, Wislotski slapped the side of the base station and proclaimed, "Got it – we've got a lock."
Eager to get started, two survey teams broke off, each taking a rover. Their job was to simply walk the curious looking survey systems on a stick around the top of the hill. Every ten feet or so, they stopped, allowed the rover to get a position lock and then transmitted the location information back to the base station. Later, when the team returned to base, dumped the data points collected from their survey into one of their laptops and watched as their terrain software "drew" an accurate representation of the hilltops terrain.
"I can remember when we did this the old fashioned way," Gustafson said as his teams roamed over the hill top with the rovers. "Not only are the units we're using more accurate, but the whole process is extremely fast."
In less than an hour after summiting, the team converged back on the base station and compared the information they each gathered in their "topo" of the hill. When Gustafson was confident that they got what they came for, he motioned for his team to start breaking the gear down.
"That was fast," one of the nearby paratroopers said, "I thought we'd be up here all day."
Minutes later, the survey gear was secured and the Task Force Castle team was ready to head back down the hill and into the COP before the heat of the day truly hit the hilltop.
The walk back down was as hard as the walk up and their packs were no lighter. But for the members of Task Force Castle's survey team, there was a great deal of satisfaction in knowing they've provided a solid start to ensuring future Soldiers safety.
"The better job we do up here, the better job the 68th will do building the OP," said Gustafson. "The better the OP, the better protected our maneuver elements are."
| Date Taken: | 07.12.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 07.12.2008 13:56 |
| Story ID: | 21418 |
| Location: | AF |
| Web Views: | 1,103 |
| Downloads: | 777 |
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