Photo By Capt. Colin Cutler | Cpl. Trevor Lottinville and Staff Sgt. John Morgan of the 390th Engineer Company,...... read more read more
CINCU, Romania -- Soldiers from South Carolina and Tennessee spent the last two weeks building new infrastructure, working through the night and in the snow to hone their skills as engineers. As part of the first rotation of Resolute Castle 2017, the South Carolina Army National Guard’s 1223rd Engineer Company, 778th Engineer Battalion, are on a three-week rotation working side-by-side with their Romanian counterparts on a Multi-Purpose Covered Shelter. Heavy equipment operators from the 390th Engineer Company, 844th Engineer Battalion, a Reserve unit out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, supported them with rollers to pack down the base layer, water trucks to wet down the gravel, and forklifts to move the supporting beams.
To be fully validated on their training mission, the 1223rd conducted some of their operations at night. “That was cold,” said 2nd Lt. Matthew LaFlamme, “and it made you plan and think differently.” Training in adverse conditions raised Soldiers’ confidence in themselves and their skills. LaFlamme continued: “Motivation stayed extremely high. You train in the worst conditions so you know you can, and you get even more done on the good days.”
Weather played a factor in their operations, as well; a day of rain was followed by two days of snow. “It was a challenge,” said Staff Sgt. Michael Sarkkinnen. “We had to do some erosion control, and you had to slow down the operation to make sure all the little details were taken care of.” The concrete trucks, however, showed up on the first clear day. “That worked perfectly,” Sarkkinnen said. The footings were poured in dry weather, essential to a solid concrete bond in the building’s foundation.
Other external factors threatened to delay the project, but adaptability and prior planning ensured the engineers stayed on task and made good use of the time. The 1223rd had pre-constructed some of the woodwork and stored it during the rainy days. When one concrete truck was delayed, 2nd Lt. LaFlamme made the call to begin installing the headers that would eventually support roofing trusses. “We’ll actually end up a little ahead of where I planned today,” said LaFlamme.
Resolute Castle is the Romania-focused arm of Operation Atlantic Resolve, a NATO initiative to increase shared operational understanding between soldiers at all levels of the armed forces and re-affirm member nations’ commitment to their mutual safety and sovereign borders. Resolute Castle particularly focuses on engineer skillsets, deploying Reserve and National Guard engineer units to work side-by-side with the Romanian 10th Engineer Brigade on training infrastructure at the Romanian Land Forces Combat Training Center in Cincu, Romania. Sgt. 1st Class DeAngelo Harley of Goose Creek, South Carolina, said “It’s a good training mission for our soldiers, getting out of their comfort zone and accomplishing the mission with different people and in different conditions.”
| Date Taken: | 04.23.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 04.24.2017 10:34 |
| Story ID: | 231305 |
| Location: | CINCU, RO |
| Hometown: | CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, US |
| Hometown: | CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE, US |
| Hometown: | CHERAW, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Hometown: | LONGVILLE, LOUISIANA, US |
| Hometown: | MORRISON, OKLAHOMA, US |
| Hometown: | MORRISTOWN, TENNESSEE, US |
| Hometown: | STOCKTON, MISSOURI, US |
| Hometown: | SUSSEX, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 352 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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