BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- Soldiers assigned to the 10th Sustainment Brigade Sustainment Automation Support Management Office recently contributed to retrograde operations by recovering logistics information systems.
The SASMO team successfully recovered the first very small aperture terminal, or VSAT, established in Afghanistan from the top of the Salang Pass.
The VSAT is a device used to transmit and receive data signal through a satellite.
The team also recovered a radio frequency in-transit visibility or RFI-TV kit, a system that traces the identity, status and location of cargo from one location to another via satellite.
The Salang Pass, which meanders through the Hindu Kush Mountains, has been called one of the most dangerous roads in the world.
As International Security Assistance Force transitions from partnered combat operations to train, advise and assist operations, commanders will adjust the size of their force and the amount of equipment in their area to meet the new mission.
"There are currently hundreds of VSATs throughout the theater of operation," said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Robert Kay, SASMO officer in charge. "The goal is to reduce that number to less than 50."
Reducing the number of VSATs in theater is a part of the retrograde mission put in place by U.S. Army G4.
The 10th Sustainment Brigade has been successful at balancing the retrograde and sustainment missions simultaneously.
The brigade's convoy security team prepared for the long trek through the Salang Pass by conducting precombat checks and inspections before rolling through the entrance control point.
Soldiers assigned to 330th Movement Control Battalion played a vital role in the mission by providing a heavy expanded mobility tactical truck, or HEMTT, with a load handling system in place of a flatbed.
After the convoy made it to the top of the pass, which is 12,723 feet above sea level, some Soldiers provided security while the SASMO team and other members of the convoy headed to the roof of a stone building to conduct their mission.
There were a few snags here and there, but through their resiliency, the Muleskinner Soldiers were able to overcome each obstacle.
Spc. Kenneth Jobin, a SASMO technician, said disassembling the VSAT was estimated to take up to four hours, but with the help of Sgt. Hanson Thomas, a truck commander, and Spc. Drake Baldwin, a utilities equipment repairer, both assigned to 10th Sustainment Brigade, it was finished within a half hour.
"They knew all the tools needed," Jobin said.
For the VSAT to be completely retrograded, all components had to be accounted for and secured. If not, the Army would have lost more than $96,000, which was one of the factors that went into planning the mission. The same thing applied to the RFI-TV, which saved the Army more than $23,000.
"We had to account for every single piece of the equipment," Jobin said. "Every nut, bolt and cable -- I mean everything."
The biggest issue that arose was the size of the VSAT and the welded bars of metal some might call stairs leading to the roof of the building. It was deemed unsafe to carry parts of the VSAT down the stairs.
An NCO made the decision to use ratchet straps to lower the VSAT and RFI-TV components down the side of the building, alleviating safety hazards. Soldiers lowered the equipment to the ground and secured it to the HEMTT.
Once everything was accounted for and secured, the convoy made its way back down the pass and to the motor pool.
Materiel and equipment recovered from Afghanistan will increase the readiness of U.S. forces at home and prepare them for future operations.
The retrograde mission was a success, saving the Army more than $100,000, due to the coordination and teamwork of the Muleskinner team and Soldiers of 330th MCB.
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