Photo By Staff Sgt. Sherwood Goodenough | U.S. Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Wilfred Kapule, from Browns Mills, N.J.,...... read more read more
Roadside assistance in combat is tougher than finding the right place to set the jack. Multi-ton vehicles are armed and armored, changing a tire incorrectly can be deadly. The places these vehicles get stuck routinely occur in locations civilians wouldn’t ordinarily drive. Learning the right way to recover war machines that have given their last full measure of devotion takes a bit more brawn, brains and an additional skill identifier taught at the Regional Training Site – Maintenance school.
The RTS-M school at the Joint Training and Training Development Center is one of 13 in the Army and the school teaches a variety of programs including military occupational skills and advanced leadership schools in the mechanical maintenance and allied trades fields. These schools are cooperative efforts between the U.S. Army Ordinance Corps and the Training and Doctrine Command to educate the Army gearheads from the Active Duty, Reserve and National Guard components.
Sgt. 1st Class Wilfred Kapule, a 31-year veteran and sapper qualified instructor, explained that the ASI-H8 wheel recovery course is so tough because soldiers can’t wait until they are in four feet of water or snow to find out how hard it is rescue stranded vehicles.
“We’re not your average tow truck operator who just puts the asset on a flatbed,” Kapule said. “The reason you have to train so hard is safety. If they don’t know what you are doing, you will damage the equipment or hurt someone.”
It looks extreme Kapule said, but these are exactly what soldiers encounter when they are deployed to national disasters and situations in war.
“When Hurricane Sandy was here, they had to recover trucks that were under water,” he said. “You have to be able to take care of trucks that aren’t just upright and on the hardball. Whether you have to retrieve an asset in combat or if you have a vehicle is flipped over in the state you have to focus on safety.”
| Date Taken: | 09.16.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 09.19.2017 14:33 |
| Story ID: | 248851 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NEW JERSEY, US |
| Web Views: | 7,751 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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