Courtesy Photo | Spc. Arturo Morin, with Guntruck Platoon, B Company, 27th Brigade Support Battalion,...... read more read more
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By Sgt. Antonieta Rico
5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
MOSUL, Iraq -- "One Blood."
That's what the gunners of the Guntruck Platoon, B Company, 27th Brigade Support Battalion, tell each other every time they head out of Forward Operating Base Marez and into the city of Mosul for their daily escort missions.
Dawn, Jan. 23, finds the Soldiers of the platoon making final checks on their equipment. They are going to an Iraqi Police station in Mosul to pick up Soldiers from A Company, 27th BSB, who have been manning the IP station's radios.
Their mission is to escort the Soldiers safely back to Marez.
With a well planned out route, the Soldiers exit the FOB, eyes peeled open. As they enter the city, Spc. Arturo Morin, the driver of the lead vehicle, seamlessly guided the convoy through the Mosul traffic.
"He's got a cell phone," someone calls over the radio, urgently.
"There are no barriers in this road anymore," another Soldier observes.
"What's that plant doing in the middle of the road? It wasn't there before," yet another voice says over the radio.
Messages to stay alert and continue watching for suspicious activity pass back and forth between the Soldiers in the convoy.
Once at the IP station, the platoon picks up the Soldiers of A Co. and the convoy returns swiftly back to the FOB.
"Once we start rolling, we ain't going to stop," Morin said.
And just like that, fast and furious, the mission is over.
The Soldiers of the Guntruck platoon head to the dining facility on base and sit together at their breakfast table.
Utterly trusting their fellow Soldiers and leaders, feeling like they are a family, is what gets the Soldiers of the Guntruck Platoon from the streets of Mosul and back into the FOB safely, they say.
"We are one blood; we have the same blood running through us," said Pvt. Juan Salas, a Humvee gunner.
Building trust and a family bond among his Soldiers is vital for successful missions, said Cpl. Shane Kassler, a noncommissioned officer with the platoon.
"On the road we don't have anytime for questions," Kassler said.
"If someone makes a decision, we are going to follow the decision, whether it's right or wrong," Salas said. It always turns out to be the right decision in the end, he added.
Leadership
The road to trust did not come easy. That journey began around May of 2006, when the battalion called for the Guntruck Platoon to be formed. The Soldiers are responsible for the security of 27th BSB assets moving across the battlefield in northern Iraq. They are also prepared to perform security for downed aircraft and damaged vehicle recovery.
The Soldiers in the platoon all have different military occupational specialties, none of them infantry. They were drawn from different companies within 27th BSB. When the Soldiers arrived at the platoon, most of them got there with the classic 'chip on the shoulder.'
"I was the worst Soldier you could have," said Pfc. Tina Sweet, a red-haired Soldier full of nervous energy and the lone female in the platoon. The small town girl, who was originally a fueler in the battalion, said that at one point she tried to do everything she could to get out of the Army. That was the reason, she said, that when the battalion issued a call to the companies to send Soldiers to the new platoon, she was the one sent to Guntruck.
"They got rid of me," Sweet said, acknowledging that she formerly had a bad attitude and did not care much for respecting her NCOs.
Morin, a mechanic, said that when he got to the platoon he was an Army Physical Fitness Test failure.
Salas, a chemical specialist, recalls getting into fights at his old platoon and not caring about orders from his NCOs.
"I was the mess-up in my platoon," Salas said.
The three Soldiers said that at times they felt they were the Soldiers that no one wanted. But in Guntruck Platoon they found a man who did want them; Staff Sgt. Alvin Caton, platoon sergeant for Guntruck. Caton, whom the Soldiers of the platoon affectionately call 'the Don,' took them in. Along with the other noncommissioned officers of the platoon, Caton began to train the 'problem' Soldiers of the support battalion to take on an infantry mission when they arrived in Iraq.
Training
When the Soldiers arrived at Guntruck Platoon, they hit the ground running.
"They had a very aggressive training attitude," said 1st Sgt. Christopher Sully, B Company first sergeant.
The Soldiers, some of them fuelers, mechanics and truck drivers, started learning basic infantry skills. They went to ranges, conducted weapons training everyday, and learned their communication systems. They trained on land navigation and the ins-and-outs of taking care of their vehicles, said Kassler.
"Day-in and day-out, (we were) doing the same thing over and over again, until we perfected it," Salas said.
"The stuff that saves lives outside the wire is the stuff we focused on," Sully said.
But besides learning those physical skills, the leaders of Guntruck platoon also focused on the Soldier's social needs. They taught them discipline through small tests.
"One day we would say, 'you are not allowed to wear any pens in your uniform,'" Kassler said, "and we would sit back and watch what happened."
"We try to foster the infantry-platoon mentality," Kassler said, referring to the family bond infantry Soldiers are known to share.
"If we are family, regardless if I'm tired, hungry, hurt, I'm going to do everything I can to get you back safe," Kassler said.
"Everyone in the platoon has got your back," Sweet said.
Sweet said Caton believed in her, that she could do it all.
"I can do everything," she states firmly.
Results
A little more than six months later, the Soldiers of Guntruck Platoon inspire the respect and praise of the battalion.
"They are one of the most disciplined and motivated teams in the battalion," Sully said.
Confidence lies in their shoulders like a mantle which they unconsciously wear as they go about their day. They perform their weapons maintenance and vehicle and radio checks as if it was second nature. Salas, the chemical specialist, is considered the best gunner in the platoon.
"It goes to show that NBC guys, mechanics, 92As (automated logistics specialists), can do everything that the grunts can do," Sully said.
Sully said that when Guntruck Platoon Soldiers perform their escorts for other units, they are always prepared and the units notice it.
The platoon NCOs proudly boast that each of their Soldiers knows their equipment and each other's job, and can at any minute, give anyone a class on them.
Sully said the Soldiers of Guntruck Platoon found a purpose within the unit.
"They are risking their lives...above and beyond what is expected of logistics Soldiers," Sully said, "They deserve recognition."
"It has totally changed me, being in this platoon," Salas said, "I want to be a Soldier now."
"A whole platoon of misfit Soldiers, (were) trained into the best platoon," Kassler said.
But the learning never stops. Every day after their missions, the Soldiers of Guntruck continue to train back on the FOB. They train on weapons, vehicle maintenance, land navigation, and communications, to name a few.
"Everyday is a new learning experience with Guntruck," Sweet said, "It was the best thing I ever did, to come to Guntruck."
| Date Taken: | 01.30.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 01.30.2007 10:37 |
| Story ID: | 8999 |
| Location: | MOSUL, IQ |
| Web Views: | 367 |
| Downloads: | 52 |
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