Mechanics Maintain Mission
In Harsh Winter Environment by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Katie Mazos-Vega
March 24, 2022
“Mechanics are some of the hardest working
people in the field,” said Brig. Gen. Louis Lapointe, deputy
commanding general of operations for U.S. Army Alaska.
March 18, 2022 - U.S. Army Spc. Aljae Phillips, a wheeled vehicle mechanic, and Pvt. Jared Tabachka, a construction equipment repairer, fuel a generator attached to a trailer at Donnelly Training Area, Ft. Greely, Alaska during Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center 22-02. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Katie Mazos-Vega)
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“The greatest things about the Arctic is it
forces Soldiers to be creative and find a way to work around it,”
said Lapointe.
Soldiers from across the United States are
participating in Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center 22-02,
a joint training exercise taking place in the Donnelly Training Area
near Ft. Greely, Alaska.
JPMRC 22-02 is the first Regional
Combat Training Center rotation in Alaska. It focuses on Large Scale
Combat Operations and tests the combat readiness of the 1st Stryker
Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, while paratroopers from
4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division
act as the opposition force.
For Soldiers stationed at bases
like Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and Fort Wainwright, this is
not their first time training in Alaska’s harsh winter environment.
However, whether they are unfamiliar with the elements or not,
Soldiers know things have to keep moving and people have to stay
warm.
This is where the Paratroopers of Company B, 725th
Brigade Support Battalion, 4-25 IBCT (ABN), apply the essential
support necessary to keep the mission going.
Soldiers from
the maintenance company out of JBER arrived to Donnelly Training
Area’s intermediate staging base February 20, 2022 ... making them the first
unit to arrive in preparation for the historic exercise rotation in
Alaska.
Since arriving to DTA, these maintainers
fixed approximately 200 faults on light-wheeled vehicles and
approximately 25 heaters and generators for various task forces
participating in JPMRC 22-02. They also completed 20 vehicle
recovery missions thus far in the exercise.
This is no easy feat, as they do not have
access to the normal heated maintenance garages they are used to and
have to navigate the snowy and icy terrain.
Capt. Lance
Cole, company commander said, “It is absolutely critical for our
Soldiers to work in this Arctic environment, not only for their own
safety but for training purposes as well. We are the first ones in
and will be the last ones out (after the exercise ends).”
With cold temperatures and icy conditions serving as an obstacle,
Soldiers can expect things such as vehicle maintenance and the
breakdown of equipment to require more attention than normal.
Spc. Bryan George, a wheeled vehicle mechanic, described some of
the challenges of performing his job in the bitter winter
temperatures.
March 18, 2022 - U.S. Army Spc. Bryan George, a wheeled vehicle mechanic with Company B, 725th Brigade Support Battalion, checks the engine oil in a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) at Donnelly Training Area, Ft. Greely, Alaska. Due to extreme cold temperatures, mechanics must perform basic maintenance checks more frequently to keep vehicles safely moving along the arctic terrain. (U.S.
Army by Staff Sgt. Katie Mazos-Vega)
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“It’s hard for me to get into some of those
tighter spaces (on a vehicle) because of the bulky gloves we wear,”
George said. “You don’t want to get contact frostbite or touch
anything metal-to-metal, so you have to take some time to warm up
and not stay outside for too long.”
Despite learning how to
adapt to the climate differences, George thinks the training will
help him and any Soldier in the future.
“You need to be
prepared for anything that happens,“ George said. "I think these
conditions are perfect to train in because everyone needs to be
trained in any type of environment."
With that in mind, one
of the greater challenges of training in an Arctic environment is
staying warm and avoiding cold weather injuries. Heaters are a
crucial piece of equipment for surviving the winter while in the
field, especially since the first few days of the exercise brought
negative temperatures and a brutal wind chill.
This keeps
the unit’s team of eight generator and heater repair specialists
engaged and busy and brought them closer together.
Sgt.
Miguel Cortes, a utilities equipment repair specialist on his second
training rotation in an Arctic environment, said the team is better
off because of their experience in this rotation.
“It has
been a great experience for us,” Cortes said. “It does build
character because we are constantly in each other’s space, so it
makes us learn how to work better together.”
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