Photo By Staff Sgt. Engels Tejeda | Spc. Benjamin Mullen, a welder from Waiverley, N.Y., makes an ammunition box holder...... read more read more
LSA ADDER, Iraq - The 588th Maintenance Company, from Fort Sill, Okla., serving in southern Iraq, is a unit of large numbers.
With more than 190 Soldiers and Kellogg, Brown and Root employees, the 588th is one of the largest organizations in the 16th Corps Support Group. With operational control of Soldiers in at least six military posts throughout southern Iraq, it covers one of the largest geographical areas in theater. While providing services that range from vehicle maintenance to canvas repair for forces from at least eight different countries, it has one of the most diverse missions in the coalition.
"It's kind of a beast, isn't it," asked Capt. Marci Miller, the unit's commander. "We do everything from changing a light bulb to changing the whole engine."
Headquartered at Logistical Support Area Adder, the 588th provides organizational and direct maintenance support for just about anyone who needs it. Whereas organizational support deals with routine equipment inspections and maintenance such as changing the oil of a vehicle, direct support deals with more advanced maintenance, including transmission replacements.
The unit has an automotive section, a generator mechanic shop, and an air conditioning repair group. It also has sections that specialize in construction equipment repair and a communications shop that services radios, night vision goggles, printers and computers, among other things.
Additionally, the unit has a small arms repair section and a service shop capable of providing wood work, welding, sewing and canvas repair.
As if that's not enough, the unit also has Soldiers tasked to manage Adder's hazardous waste site. All these trades keep the Soldiers busy.
"At any given moment, we have 200 jobs open," Miller said. "They are busy."
Take, for example, the auto shop that the 588th operates at LSA Adder. When the Soldiers arrived in November, they had a backlog of about 50 jobs. The jobs are tracked by orders, and as Sgt. 1st Class Vincent Phillips, the shop's NCOIC, put it, 'the printout was about 15 pages long. We had it down to four pages within two months."
Staff Sgt. Eddie Walton, the shop foreman at LSA Adder, said that his Soldiers were able to work so fast because they are augmented by an experienced KBR staff.
"We work pretty well with the KBR guys," Walton said. "Most of them are prior service and they understand the system."
The KBR staff said the real credit goes to the unit's NCOs and young Soldiers, who in the words of KBR master mechanic Andre Davis, "are some of the best people that I've worked with in over 28 years as a mechanic."
"They are energetic, open-minded, and they are not afraid to try new techniques. They are very flexible," Davis said.
Their flexibility has made them perfect candidates to work with members of the coalition. At Camps Delta and Echo, the 588th provides direct and organizational support for troops from several countries including El Salvador, Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Albania and Bulgaria.
2nd Lt. Nadiyah Bryant, the platoon leader for Soldiers stationed at Camps Delta and Echo, said her troops like serving at those sites because serving with the coalition breaks up the monotony of daily work. She credits her troops" success at those sites to the experience that the unit's NCOs bring to the table.
"What is good for them is that they have really good NCOs who really care about their Soldiers," Bryant said.
"It makes all the difference in the world."
About 40 percent of the unit has served in Iraq before, many with the 588th when it was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom I.
At least 25 percent of the leadership has been in the military, mostly in the maintenance field, for an average of 12 years or more.
Philips, for example, has been in the Army for 18 years, and has served as an instructor and recruiter and has been deployed two times in support of OIF. Similarly, Walton served in OIF I and has 12 years of service, while Staff Sgt. Keith Neubecker, the special equipment repair supervisor, has been in the Army for 21 years and served with the 588th during OIF I.
The unit has many young Soldiers as well. Spc. Jared Miller, a 19-years-old machinist, has been in the Army for less than a year. He says this is the longest he's ever been away from his mother and younger brother. Among what he misses most, of course, is his mother's chicken fried steak.
Most of the unit falls within the 18 to 25 age range. Surprisingly, for such a young group, the unit's commander said there are "minimal to no discipline problems and they work their rear ends off every day."
Perhaps one reason for their success is that the Soldiers, young and old, are ambitious. Pvt. George Phillips, an 18-year-old light wheeled vehicle mechanic who is the unit's youngest Soldier " has been in the Army for 7 months " balances working at the unit's shop at LSA Adder with working out at the post's gym.
He earned second place for Neville High School at Louisiana's high school power-lifting competition and while in Iraq, he plans to increase the amount he bench presses to 325 pounds.
Given the unit's culture, it's likely he will achieve his goal, after all, big numbers is what the 588th is all about.
| Date Taken: | 04.25.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 04.25.2006 08:24 |
| Story ID: | 6103 |
| Location: | TALLIL, IQ |
| Web Views: | 548 |
| Downloads: | 13 |
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