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CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait (November 15, 2008) - When
a new unit moves into theater, the process of moving equipment
takes months of preparation and involves coordination between the
deploying unit and the units that move the equipment into
theater.
One of the first stops for arriving personnel and equipment is
Kuwait, where a unit is staged before it pushes north.
When the equipment arrives it must be downloaded from the ship
that transported it and moved into staging areas.
"We have port detail with 600 plus pieces of equipment, tracks
and containers arriving from Fort Riley, Kan.," said Army Master
Sgt. Dwayne Wooten, motor sergeant, 299th Forward Support
Battalion."We have to get all of the equipment downloaded from the
ship, segregate depending on final destination and stage it in a
staging yard a few miles from here," added Wooten, a Medina, Ohio
resident. "We have several pieces being moved to be up-armored
before being pushed into Iraq."
After the upgrades are made on the equipment, transportation
units take over to move the equipment into Iraq.
This is where U.S. Air Force Central, Central Command service
component, comes in.
USAFCENT's Medium Truck Detachments support the U.S. Army in
line-haul convoy movements into and out of Iraq and Kuwait
According to Air Force Lt. Col. Carlos E. Camarillo, commander,
586th Expeditionay Logistic Readiness Squadron, the orginal mission
of the Air Force detachments was to man the gun trucks in a convoy,
now they perform the actual line haul mission.
In a convoy, the line haul trucks move the equipment from one
location to another, while a gun truck provides security for the
convoy.
Airmen serve in support of what was originally an Army mission,
which creates the in "lieu of status" for the Air Force
servicemembers.
"We provide Airmen as an in lieu of status," said Caramillo.
"We receive a movement request from units entering country. A
transportation detachment takes that mission and moves the
equipment into Iraq," said Camarillo, a Midland, Texas
resident.
"Since 2005, we have had a total of 992 missions," added
Camarillo.
The 70th and 424th MTDs, two transportation units which fall
under the 586th ELRS, perform 50 percent of the convoy missions
into Iraq from Kuwait, explained Camarillo.
With new units rotating in and out of theater, the
transportation that these Army and Air Force MTDs provide is vital
to the sustainment of theater operations in Iraq.
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