Courtesy Photo | An Iraqi soldier uses s forklift to move supplies around in one of the 45 buildings of...... read more read more
TAJI, Iraq - The Iraqi military is gradually setting up warehouses and is building their own supply system with the help of the U.S. Army.
The Taji National Depot is the central hub, the largest Iraqi warehouse in the country with over 45 warehouse buildings.
"The basic mission of the depot is to receive, store and issue equipment to the Iraqi Security Forces and the Iraqi army," said Lt. Col. David W. Rowland, a Reserve quartermaster officer from the 80th Training Division, who is now the commander of the depot.
"The operations started in March of 2005. About 30 Soldiers started the operation off," said Capt. Jason P. Horn, a Reserve quartermaster officer also from the 80th Training Division.
Today, the warehouse operates with approximately 30 coalition soldiers, 300 Iraqi soldiers and 200 contractors. The coalition soldiers are part of the military transition team (MiTT) assigned to aid the setup and training of the depot personnel.
Right now the supplies for the depot come from the Multi National Security Transitional Command Iraq.
The Iraqi system mirrors the U.S. supply requisition and distribution system, only it is a little simpler. The customer identifies the needs and informs the J4 located in Baghdad.
Baghdad then sends the depot a "pull-list" of items that need to be pulled for the customer. The depot pulls and stages the items, and places them on transportation assets awaiting clearance to ship to the designated areas. When the items are shipped, the warehouse subtracts the items from their computer based system, called "EXCEEDS," Rowland explained.
EXCEEDS is also used for placing the actual orders through the Internet to J4, said Chief Warrant Officer Martin De Jesus, a MiTT logistician working with the depot. Since most Iraqi units do not have Internet access, the U.S. military transition team assigned to the particular unit will often place the order for them. The items are tracked by national stock numbers, just like in the U.S.
"Once the order is received in Baghdad, the warehouse generally issues out the supplies within 72 hours," Rowland said.
Taji is not the only warehouse. There are smaller hubs throughout the country. For example, there is one in Abu Ghraib.
The warehouse receives, stores and issues military boots, underwear, socks, shoes uniforms, vehicles, ammunition and even weapons, Rowland said.
The Iraqi soldiers are currently issued the "chocolate chip cookie" uniforms the U.S. Army wore during the Gulf War. They also receive some of the old grey Army physical fitness uniforms, socks, T-shirts, boots and New Balance tennis shoes, Horn explained.
The depot is continuously expanding, De Jesus said. Later on this year, they are hoping to open a building for medical supplies.
Members of the MiTT train the Iraqi soldiers on a daily basis on the supply procedures.
"We do have some language difficulties, but we have 13 interpreters on the site which is ample enough to get the job done," Horn said. They are also continuously working on translating all documents and inventories, and hopefully by December of this year, everything will be in Arabic."
"This will be a permanent base for the long term. Iraqis will assume control rather quickly instead of us doing the actual day to day duties," he said.
| Date Taken: | 11.07.2005 |
| Date Posted: | 11.07.2005 14:56 |
| Story ID: | 3630 |
| Location: | TAJI, IQ |
| Web Views: | 187 |
| Downloads: | 45 |
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