599th Trans. Bde. team inspects, assists battalions

WHEELER ARMY AIRFIELD, Hawaii -- Ten 599th Transportation Brigade personnel conducted an organizational inspection of two of the unit's three battalions from Sept. 19-30.

The 836th and 837th transportation battalions headquartered in Yokohama, Japan, and Busan, South Korea, respectively, changed command during the summer. The brigade's inspection sought to assist new commanders by giving them a snapshot of their units' readiness status shortly after they came in, said Capt. Christopher Enyart, brigade Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment commander.

Enyart inspected mandatory military and civilian training and schools as well as arranging the trip for the group.

"Both battalions did very well in their training piece," Enyart said. "These are additional duties, but both took these duties very seriously. The only challenges were updating administrative items like policy letters and signature cards, and you always have those kinds of continuity problems after a change of command."

Updating administrative records was also a main concern for Ruby Ragragola, brigade records manager, who had an extensive inspection responsibility.

"Each battalion is unique, but in both battalions, each section has its own records coordinator, so in order to check records management, I had to visit every section," Ragragola said.

"My job is to make sure someone can find a record if the coordinator isn't there," she added. "Files have to be marked, labeled, and retired. Retired records also have to go to the records holding area."

"After the inspection, I turned it into a staff assistance visit," Ragragola added. "I was able to help some civilian employees who had issues with government travel card and DTS [Defense Travel System]. I also followed up with a time card audit. The SDDC inspector general team had been there in June. So I did a follow up to make sure they had taken care of all findings."

John Fisher, Pacific Sealift Management Office chief, inspected plans, cargo booking, and terminal management.

"I coordinated with other section chiefs in our operations directorate to come up with a checklist for the areas I was inspecting," Fisher said.

"In all of our battalions, their terminals and booking sections are combined into a cargo documentation section," Fisher said. "In terms of practices, battalions are more hands-on than the brigade. Because of the way we are set up, we have to bring in deployment and distribution management teams to do the work that battalions typically perform at their terminals or at other exercise sites.

"The battalions did well in almost all areas. They also had some best practices that we can adapt here in the brigade," Fisher added.

Mary Kamauoha, information systems security manager, also found best practices the brigade can take back from battalions. She inspected all aspects of both battalions' information management programs.

"I was really impressed with how prepared both battalions were for the inspection", Kamauoha said. "One battalion's IT tech was gone on temporary duty with a deployment and distribution management team, but he was very prepared for the inspection. He had compiled notes against every entry on the checklist, with required equipment and documents available. I was also able to cross-reference items and inventories with equipment and documentation from two other sections."

Sgt. 1st Class Juan Mendoza, logistics NCOIC, visited logistics sections of both battalions.

"Both did well," Mendoza said. "I am very impressed with their work and effort. They are both making sure their supply sections are efficient, and both are doing well with the new Global Combat Support System."