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FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHARANA, Afghanistan (2/18/2012) -
The mission for route clearance team is quite simple: find a
barrage of small-arms, mortars and improvised explosive
devices on the roads of Afghanistan and get them off.
Soldiers with the 887th Engineer Support Company, 326th Engineer
Battalion, 101st Sustainment Brigade, conduct route clearing in
Regional Command East, Afghanistan on Nov. 13, 2011. Courtesy Photo |
For the soldiers of the 887th Engineer Support Company,
326th Engineer Battalion, 101st Sustainment Brigade,
everything over there is always easier said than done. The
company is primarily a Horizontal Construction Company
comprised of heavy equipment operators who were remissioned
as route clearance experts eight months prior to their
deployment.
According to company first sergeant, 1st
Sgt. Doug Galick, their experience as equipment operators
works to their advantage. "We are well aware that we are not
the best at anything or do not know all the "tricks or the
trade" yet, but we avoid complacency by recognizing this
fact and absorbing every new bit of information we can get.
Our very intelligent leaders and Soldiers constantly ask
questions and discuss new things they witness and try, When
something new arrives on the battle field the patrols
crosstalk and share any new Tactics, Techniques and
Procedures they develop or enemy TTPs they come across," he
said.
The company is split up across up to five
Forward Operating Bases located in Regional Command East,
mostly providing direct support to the 172nd Infantry
Brigade. Galick said the company have successfully found
IEDs along the Afghanistan roadways using their Ground
Penetrating Radar system.
"This is a testament to
the great equipment we use to conduct our mission. We think
this gives us an advantaged in operating the GRP and
manipulating the interrogation arms. These technical aspects
of route clearance translate very well to construction," he
said. "Also our scanning technology is not quite as
effective in the snow and ice, so our leaders must depend
heavily on visual signs and the mine rollers to locate the
IEDs. We have only found one IED the hard way so far,
luckily nobody was hurt although the vehicle was mostly
destroyed."
Galick said another advantage equipment
operators have in conversion to route clearance is our
ability to conduct maintenance.
"As construction
equipment operators our equipment is our livelihood, and we
recognize the importance of PMCS and maintenance. We also
acquire a basic mechanical skill sets through necessity as
construction guys. If our equipment dose not function
properly then we cannot complete our mission. Even though
the stakes our much higher conducting route clearance this
directly translate to taking care of our route clearance
equipment. If properly cared for and maintained this
equipment will save our lives and 887th soldiers live by
this and do a outstanding job," he said.
Galick said
the soldiers travel out to several kilometers and
deliberately search for explosives. He likens the experience
to infantry soldiers conducting foot patrols.
"This
is a very difficult mission considering the altitude and the
rough terrain we negotiate during these patrols," Galick
said.
Understanding they were not strong this
particular area, the soldiers primarily focused on the
dismount patrol skills during pre-deployment training. The
training they undertook was deliberate difficult, Galick
said.
"The dismounted STX lanes we designed and
conducted right at Fort Campbell consisted of over seven
miles of grueling patrols which included reacting to several
combat situations, including mine detector operations, IED,
direct, indirect, and sniper fire. They carried the same
equipment they are carrying here in combat and unpredictably
so the weather was very cold and wet making it a very close
representation of our combat environment. The conditions
help prepare them for what they are experiencing now and
negotiating the lane twice in two days help them realize how
far they could push themselves," he said.
"In
retrospect our dismounted STX lane was right on target and
the value and quality of the training is definitely showing
dividends," Galick said. "Our soldiers are displaying right
amount of aggressiveness and discipline, we have had zero
safety accidents even through the austere Afghanistan
winter. The roads have been covered with snow and ice since
approximately the end of December. This snow makes it very
difficult to negotiate the mountains roads and frequent
wadis or river crossings."
By Army Sgt. 1st Class Peter Mayes
101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st
Airborne Division (AA) Public Affairs
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2012
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