Courtesy Photo | BAGHDAD - A line of vehicles once used by the Saddam regime populates a parking lot at...... read more read more
By Sgt. 1st Class Jerry Malec
Fires Bde. PAO, 4th Inf. Div.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - In an effort to help the Iraqi army traverse across the roads of Iraq, a small contingent of Soldiers from Company B, 589th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, has been dispatched to Forward Operating Base Constitution to help repair a number of the IA's heavy-wheeled vehicles, predominantly the Russian-built 7.5-ton Kraz.
A team of four Soldiers, plus a chief warrant officer and a noncommissioned officer, are pitching in with greasy, but skillful, hands to teach future maintenance technicians with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, how to change the transmission and clutch assemblies on the Kraz vehicles.
"It's [the transmission] a lot bigger than what we've worked with before," said Spc. Robert Coss, of Hilton, N.Y., a mechanic with Co. B, 589th BSB, who joined the Army in July 2004.
"Up until now, I've only worked on a humvee-size transmission," continued Coss, who said he was happy to have this opportunity to work on a large and complex piece of machinery.
Another transmission challenge the mechanics faced was working with manual transmissions, since most wheeled Army vehicles use automatic transmission, added Chief Warrant Officer 4 James Gordon, senior maintenance control technician, Co. B.
The plan is to show their IA mechanical counterparts how to repair one vehicle, assist them with the next, and then let them finish the job with the remaining vehicles, said Sgt. Jeffery Gill, section sergeant, Co. B.
"It feels very good to help the Iraqis get their own fleet started, and I think it will actually help make them look better," said Gill, who is on his first deployment to Iraq.
Warrant Officer 1 Khadun Jawae, chief maintenance officer, 2nd Bn., 3rd Bde, 6th Iraqi Army Div., said he felt good about seeing the U.S. Soldiers working with Iraqi soldiers on their trucks.
"This cooperation will help our country go to the front and, of course, help us to defeat the insurgents and stop everything that's happening outside the gate," said Jawae.
| Date Taken: | 05.22.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 05.22.2006 09:41 |
| Story ID: | 6447 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 67 |
| Downloads: | 25 |
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