Quartermaster Soldiers conduct annual QLLEX

Photo By Ryan Morton | Beeville, Texas resident, Sgt. David Dominguez, 288th Quartermaster Company, operates the Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Unit at Army Support Activity-Dix June 8. His unit, an Army Reserve organization from Victoria, Texas, is at ASA-Dix conducting its Annual Training performing the Quartermaster Liquid Logistics Exercise exercise. It involves water purification, laundry and shower, and fuel service operations.  

FORT DIX, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES

06.25.2010

Story by Ryan Morton 

USASA, Fort Dix

FORT DIX, N.J. - If combat arms Soldiers are to keep advancing on the battlefield then they are going to need the quartermaster warriors to keep them supplied with water, clean laundry and fuel for their vehicles.

At Army Support Activity-Dix, combat service support Army Reserve Soldiers put their skills to the test by arranging missions and meeting deadlines as they took part in the nationwide Quartermaster Liquid Logistics Exercise. While it may be called an exercise, they were actually conducting real-world missions of providing water, laundry and fuel in conditions similar to those on a battlefield.

“It [QLLEX] gives you a lot of hands-on experience that you don’t get to do during a drill weekend,” said York, Pa. resident, Spc. Bryan McMullen, 254th FSC.

McMullen and his fellow Soldiers operated a giant laundry machine called the laundry advanced system [LADS], as well as showers that were set up in the base camp area.

The water that’s used for those operations was provided by the 288th Quartermaster Company, 401st QM Det., and 410th QM Det. They drew and purified water from ASA-Dix’s Hanover Lake, using equipment known as the Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Unit and Tactical Water Distribution System.

“It gets us ready if we have to do a real-world mission and helps bring us together as a unit by working together,” said Beeville, Texas resident, Sgt. David Dominguez, 288th QM Company.

The other part of the exercise involved the petroleum and transportation aspect. Participating in that were the 182nd, 705th, and 773rd TCs. They transported the water to the base camp and other areas of ASA-Dix for training Soldiers to use, and brought diesel fuel from Jacksonville, N.J., to an area called a fuel farm on ASA-Dix. Here, the fuel is temporarily stored and tested for contaminants and water content by Soldiers from the 277th QM Company. After it passes the tests, it gets shipped for use by the transportation Soldiers to military installations at Annville, Willow Grove, and Middletown in Pennsylvania, and Pomona and McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey.

The 319th QM Battalion, from Twinsburg, Ohio, hosted the exercise at Dix and welcomed Soldiers from nine other units including: the 327th QM Bn., from Williamsport, Pa.; 182nd Transportation Company (TC), from Traverse City, Mi.; 254th Field Services Company (FSC) (Laundry and Bath), from York, Pa.; 277th QM Company, from Niagara Falls, N.Y.; 288th QM Company, from Victoria, Texas; 401st QM Detachment, from Lock Haven, Pa.; 410th QM Det., from Jacksonville, Fla.; 705th TC, from Dayton, Ohio; and 773rd TC, from Fort Totten, N.Y.

The Soldiers who conducted the QLLEX exercise at ASA-Dix treated and moved more than 130,000 gallons of water and more than 200,000 gallons of fuel. QLLEX ran simultaneously at Fort Hunter Liggett, Calif., San Pedro, Calif., Fort Huachuca, Ariz., Fort AP Hill, Fort Pickett, Fort Lee, Fort Belvoir, all in Virginia and Coraopolis, Pa.

• Date Taken: 06.25.2010
• Date Posted: 06.25.2010 08:31
• Story ID: 51959
• Location: FORT DIX, NEW JERSEY, US