Soldiers keep building on their way home

Photo By Sgt. Jason Mikeworth | Sgt. Irene Chaves (left) and Spc. Christopher Martin, both of the 505th Engineer Battalion, carry a new sheet of wood to the waiting saws of the 463rd Engineer Combat Battalion. The 505th is replacing the 463rd as they wrap up their tour in Iraq.  

11.07.2005

Courtesy Story

207th Public Affairs Detachment

Now that the 463rd Combat Engineer Battalion (Heavy) has completed missions in an arc from Mosul to Abu Ghraib, they have started packing up their gear and are almost ready to call it quitting time.

Almost.

While thoughts of home are closer to the front of their minds than back, the Soldiers of the 463rd are still working to improve Logistical Support Area Anaconda.

"We're getting to do what combat heavy is designed to do, and lots of it," said Capt. Mark Mclain, a civil engineer and technical assistant to the planning and operations section for the battalion. "What we've done shows what a Reserve unit has as far as unique capabilities."

Mclain said the skills, brought to Iraq by these citizen Soldiers has been invaluable to accomplishing the battalion's mission.

"We've got people who are carpenters and home builders by profession. We've got key people who work for survey firms," Mclain said. "This adds to our flexibility because the people who are doing the work, they do it every day, so they know what will and won't work based on the materials that we get."

Master Sgt. Ronald Lauff, the battalion's operations sergeant, said he was impressed by the way the unit has been able to pull together to accomplish every mission it has been tasked with successfully.

"I think it really speaks to the quality of Soldiers that are in the Reserves," Lauff said.

Before deploying, the battalion had only about 40 percent of the personnel it needed to meet the mission requirements.

Through cross-leveling Soldiers from other units and augmenting from the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), the unit was able to reach 100 percent readiness for six weeks of pre-deployment training.

"Over half the unit was transferred in," said Master Sgt. Daniel Kumm, the battle captain for the 463rd. "We built our unit cohesion on the ground here."

The unit has helped to establish and build up many forward operating bases, including Q West, Warhorse, LSA Anaconda, al Asad, and Rahwah. Along the way the unit has moved over 1.5 million cubic yards of earth during construction projects.

"We can start from the ground up. We have all of the equipment from earth moving, concrete, asphalt, to electricians, plumbers and carpenters," Kumm said.

The battalion has also helped to deconstruct several FOBs while preparing others to be turned over to Iraqi forces, Kumm said.

"We've helped establish Iraqi bases so they can become the overwhelming presence so we can move towards the overall goal of leaving this country," Kumm said.

The 463rd has also worked to repair many major supply routes as well as alternate supply routes. Mclain said that improving the roads helped U.S. forces move through the area quicker. Part of the repair work included filling in holes left by improvised explosive devices.

"It's one less place where insurgents can hide IEDs," Mclain said.

In addition to road repairs and force protection upgrades for numerous FOBs, the 463rd has also completed work on two fuel farms for al Asad and Q West, and has finished 19 SEA huts on LSA Anaconda intended to replace the transient housing tents some Soldiers are living in currently. An additional three SEA-Huts are still under construction, with Soldiers of the 463rd working alongside their replacements from the 505th Engineer Battalion.

Kumm said he feels the unit has contributed in a meaningful way to the overall mission in Iraq, and that he thinks the unit will redeploy with some very valuable lessons.

"I think it was a large learning experience for a young reserve unit that hasn't deployed to too many places," Kumm said.

• Date Taken: 11.07.2005
• Date Posted: 11.07.2005 14:20
• Story ID: 3623