Soldiers with 45th Special Troops Battalion, 45th Sustainment Brigade, 8th Theater Sustainment Command, tie-down a vehicle they loaded on U.S. Army Vessel CW3 Harold C. Clinger, a logistical support vessel, Sept. 11 at a loading dock at Waipio Point,...
Soldiers with 45th Special Troops Battalion, 45th Sustainment Brigade, 8th Theater Sustainment Command load vehicles and equipment onto a United States Air Force C-17 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam as part of a deployment readiness exercise held S...
Soldiers with 8th Theater Sustainment Command's 45th Special Troops Battalion, 45th Sustainment Brigade, and 163rd Transportation Detachment, 524th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion load vehicles onto U.S. Army Vessel CW3 Harold C. Clinger, a logi...
Soldiers with 45th Special Troops Battalion, 45th Sustainment Brigade, 8th Theater Sustainment Command load vehicles and equipment onto a United States Air Force C-17 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam as part of a deployment readiness exercise held S...
SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii -- To achieve "readiness" in the Pacific, a unit must be able to quickly prepare its equipment and troops for movement by land, air, and/or sea.
Soldiers from the 45th Special Troops Battalion demonstrated their ability to maximize all three modes during a deployment readiness exercise held at several locations on the island, Sept. 8-12.
The unit conducted the DRE to validate the battalion's capability of deploying at short-notice.
Soldiers convoyed their vehicles from Wheeler Army Airfield, eventually driving them onto the deck of U.S. Army Vessel CW3 Harold C. Clinger, a logistical support vessel, at Waipio Point.
The LSV can carry the equivalent of 17 C-17 aircraft loads, said 2nd Lt. Collin Hayward, the movement control officer for the 45th STB's 18th Transportation Detachment. The boat has both bow and stern ramps for roll-on and off operations and can also beach itself to load or discharge cargo over the shore in as little as four feet of water.
The LSV's crew of Soldiers from 163rd Transportation Detachment trained the 45th troops on how to load and secure their equipment on the deck.
But this was just part of the week's operations, Hayward said. "We had the battalion's capabilities spread between different nodes, so we were simulating both air and water deployment."
While one group was loading their equipment onto the boat, another was also conducting the exercise with a U.S. Air Force C-17 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.
"The C-17 portion helped us work through the coordination piece with the Air Force and develop very realistic training," said Capt. Jerry Garner, the operations officer for 45th STB.
The troops loaded six vehicles and two trailers with tents onto the aircraft. The troops said they learned that loading vehicles onto a ship is very different than loading them onto a plane.
"We learned how to band these vehicles, strap them down to the ship," said Spc. Daniel Martinez, an ammunition stocking control specialist with 45th SB. "This was a pretty fun experience."
Martinez has never deployed or been on a ship.
When the exercise was complete, the Soldiers downloaded all their equipment from both the vessel and the plane and convoyed back to their unit here.
"It's just a great opportunity to work with some of the biggest strategic assets here in 8th TSC," said Hayward. "Getting the opportunity to actually work with an Army boat is definitely a good experience to get our Soldiers spun up on how to do vessel operations."
The 45th STB's current deployment status is tentative, but Hayward says it could always change at any time, making readiness key for the units future success.
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