Transportation detachment receives own 'big haze grey ship'

By Spc. Marcus Fichtl, 8th Military Police Brigade Public AffairsJuly 12, 2012

Transportation detachment receives own 'big haze grey ship'
1 / 6 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Chief Warrant Officer 3 Thomas Barnes, commander 163rd Transportation Detachment, 524th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 45th Sustainment Brigade, cuts a ribbon as the unit assumes responsibility of the Logistical Support Vessel Lt. Gen. William... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Transportation detachment receives own 'big haze grey ship'
2 / 6 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The guidon bearer from the 163rd Transportation Detachment, 524th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 45th Sustainment Brigade, races the unit's guidon onto the Logistical Support Vessel Lt. Gen. William B. Bunker as the unit takes responsibility o... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Transportation detachment receives own 'big haze grey ship'
3 / 6 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The guidon bearer from the 163rd Transportation Detachment, 524th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 45th Sustainment Brigade, races the unit's guidon onto the Logistical Support Vessel Lt. Gen. William B. Bunker as the unit takes responsibility o... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Transportation detachment receives own 'big haze grey ship'
4 / 6 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Soldiers from the 163rd Transportation Detachment, 524th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 45th Sustainment Brigade, stand in formation as the unit takes responsibility of the Logistical Support Vessel Lt. Gen. William B. Bunkerat Joint Base Hick... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Transportation detachment receives own 'big haze grey ship'
5 / 6 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Soldiers from the 163rd Transportation Detachment, 524th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 45th Sustainment Brigade, race onto the Logistical Support Vessel Lt. Gen. William B. Bunker as the unit takes responsibility of the ship at Joint Base Hic... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Transportation detachment receives own 'big haze grey ship'
6 / 6 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The Logistical Support Vessel Lt. Gen. William B. Bunker shadows the Soldiers from the 163rd Transportation Detachment, 524th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 8th Military Police Brigade, as the unit takes responsibility of the ship at Joint Bas... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

JOINT BASE HICKAM PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii ---The Soldiers of the 163rd Transportation Detachment, 524th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 45th Sustainment Brigade, 8th Theater Sustainment Command, took responsibility of the Logistical Support Vessel Lt. Gen. William B. Bunker, at the docks here, June 29.

The ribbon cutting represented the finale to a year-long journey that started June 2011 with a 45-day mission to Fort Eustis, Va., to pick up a different Logistical Support Vessel, known as an LSV.

But they never brought it back to Hawaii.

"We got a call from the Department of the Army telling us there's a slight change in plans," said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Thomas Barnes, commander, 163 Trans. Det. "We were now deploying to Kuwait."

For seven months the unit conducted operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation New Dawn.

But when the unit returned, it returned without its ship.

"Since late January we have been an LSV detachment without a LSV, and even though we've been busy in that time, "Barnes continued, "something big and haze grey had been missing."

But as a large shadow slowly encompassed the formation of the 163rd Trans Det. One did not need to see the ship looming in the background to notice that something "big and haze grey" was back. You could see it in the Soldiers faces.

They had a home on the sea again. The LSV Lt. Gen. William B. Bunker had arrived.

Named after the general who revamped the Army's aviation logistics, the vessel is part of the LSV fleet of "big haze grey ships," the Army's largest watercraft, which measures 274 feet from bow to stern with the capacity to carry more than 2,000 short tons.

The Soldiers received their awards for their deployment, the ribbon was cut, and the unit's guidon was placed on the stern on the ship.

Things were right again; things were whole. The waterborne Soldiers had their ship and the ship had them.

"With this vessel and this crew, we will be finest ship in the fFleet," said Barnes.

Related Links:

Army.mil: Asia and Pacific News

8th Theater Sustainment Command Facebook Page

U.S. Army Watercraft Operator (88K)