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By Sgt. Thomas L. Day
40th Public Affairs Detachment
CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait — The 594th Transportation Company is a supply distributor for the entire Iraq theater, running supply missions to as far north as Mosul, a city nearly four-hundred miles north of Baghdad.
The job given the maintenance platoon of the 594th is to make sure the vehicles make it through Iraq without a vehicle breaking down.
Tightening screws, checking fluids, rotating tires – acts that could be routine, the supply convoys depend on when they move into Iraq.
"Every time they come off a mission, they come through the shop," said Sgt. 1st Class Scott Shepherd of Harlan, Ky., the platoon leader for the 594th's maintenance platoon. "The next morning, after a mission, the convoy is required to come in ... We fix everything on the spot."
Nineteen Soldiers are assigned to the maintenance platoon; a team large enough to handle eight to 10 vehicles at a time.
"Glorious home," as Sgt. Stephen Hardy of Houston calls it, is a Texas-sized tent at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, which the maintenance platoon has used as its repair facility.
From Kuwait, supply convoys roll out with a parade of massive, three-axle trucks [called a "Bobtel"], most carrying flatbeds. One truck in tow, however, carries nothing but a box.
The box is packed with wrenches, fluids and extra parts. "That way we're pulling a full system behind us," Hardy said.
Added armor attached to the vehicles, according to the Soldiers, is what keeps the maintenance platoon busy.
"(The added armor) really pays hell on those vehicles," said 1st Sgt. Douglas Emmons, the 594th company's top enlisted Soldier.
The vehicles, according to Emmons, carry several thousand pounds of added armor.
The platoon is nothing if not battle tested. More than half of the company has been submitted for a combat action badge, denoting that the soldier wearing the badge has been involved in a combat engagement. Of the 19 Soldiers assigned to the maintenance platoon, only three have not been deployed to the Iraq theater before.
This deployment, according to the Soldiers, differs from the previous tours in one aspect: convenience.
In 2003, the company was deployed with the 101st Airborne Division in northern Iraq.
Orders for missing parts could take as long as several months to arrive. This time around, the mechanics have encountered a noticeably quicker process.
"It's running smooth as silk now," Stephens said about the parts replacement process. "On a day to day basis, parts are rolling in pretty good.
"We go through parts like it's going out of style."
| Date Taken: | 01.10.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 01.10.2007 12:42 |
| Story ID: | 8786 |
| Location: | CAMP ARIFJAN, KW |
| Web Views: | 398 |
| Downloads: | 168 |
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