YERMO, Calif. -- The sound of a locomotive horn echoing across the rail yard is a common occurrence at the Marine Corps Logistics Base here.
MCLB is the largest military train depot in the continental United States. More than 50 million pounds of equipment and vehicle freight transfer through MCLB every month in support of the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California.
"Our main mission in support of NTC is to facilitate the rotational training units that come here each month," said Master Sgt. Logan M. McKenzie, the Brigade S-3 Sgt. Maj. for the 916th Sustainment Brigade. "All their equipment rolls in to the Yermo Annex of MCLB to get transferred on to [semi truck equivalent] and then brought up to Fort Irwin and back again at the end of the rotation."
The equipment arrives at the Yermo Annex via civilian train systems operated by Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway and Union Pacific Railroad.
"After the freight arrives here, we use the four trains, which are owned by the United States Army, to push them around the railhead in preparations for download," said Sgt. Michael A. Davis, the rail operations non-commissioned officer assigned to the 171st Movement Control Company. "The Army has about 130 trains and the four here are actively used by the Military for freight operations."
The Military utilizes civilian transportation infrastructures which are already in place to ensure equipment is moved in a timely manner.
"We load and unload freight from the Marines, Navy, Army, Air Force, and even the Coast Guard," said Chad C. Hildebrandt, the rail operations supervisor at MCLB. "We service all of the branches of the DOD because of all the access routes into and out of here."
As the Military downsizes and changes its focus to force sustainment, the Yermo Annex will continue to see an increase of use.
"A year ago we moved about 35 million pounds of freight in any given month, but this last month alone we moved more than 95 million pounds in support of NTC and other Military bases around the west coast," said Hildebrandt.
The 171st MCC has a meticulous system in place to track freight and will work 18 hour days to ensure the freight gets to its destination.
"The freight companies that are ran by civilians use programs to calculate how much freight and how many cars can be pulled at a time, but since we use paper calculations and are out there with the cars we can see that there are still spaces available to load more equipment," said Davis. "On average we save the RTU and the Army several thousands of dollars each rotation because we do not use as many cars. After the 14-09 rotation we saved them a whole train compared to what they used when they came here."
With the capabilities they have shown in the past, the 171st MCC sets an example for other movement operations centers to follow.
"We started a training class for Soldiers and Marines here to ensure other railhead operators understand how to properly accomplish their missions, because we move the same amount of freight that the training units do in about one-third the time," said Davis.
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