FORT SILL, Okla. (May 15, 2014) -- In a time of financial uncertainty for the military the "Make it Happen" Battalion, leaders and planners worked to do their part in saving resources and integrating training into operations.
Over the course of four days, May 6-9, 35 Soldiers from 214th Fires Brigade drove a 15-vehicle convoy 1,800 miles round trip from Fort Sill to Fort Carson, Colo., in the 11th installment of the 168th Brigade Support Battalion's "Operation Long-haul." The convoy's mission delivered excess vehicles and equipment to units from across the 4th Infantry Division.
"To move this amount of equipment this distance, using a convoy is more cost effective than using rail services, not to mention that this is a wonderful training opportunity for our 88Ms (truck drivers), supply personnel, fuelers and recovery personnel," explained Capt. Sharia Rodriquez, 168th BSB convoy commander and deputy support operations officer.
Rolling out 52nd Street Gate just after dawn on their northwesterly trek, the logistical leaders undertook a mission that would require skill, dedication and a diligence for safety to complete successfully.
Sailing across the open plains of western Oklahoma and north Texas on the first day, the Soldiers brought pride of duty and mission to the small, border towns that looked better suited for scenes in "The Grapes of Wrath" than our modern world. The villagers never failed to smile and wave to the passing trucks.
Trains glided gently over their rails past tumbleweed and longhorns beside the road and convoy, the massive transports together in their duties of delivering the goods that keep the nation alive. Like a wagon train of old, the close-knit convoy maintained impeccable integrity beside the iron horses that settled the West and made the settlers' covered wagons obsolete. But still the convoy rolled into the northern New Mexican high desert, symbolic of the logistician's lonely road and destination minded role, to their overnight stop at the National Guard Armory in Clayton, N.M.
"Going through that part of the country is always beautiful," said Spc. Chris Barrett, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 2nd Battalion, 5th Field Artillery supply specialist. "The swing in weather and terrain from nearly 100 degrees and grasslands in Oklahoma, to a little snow and sleet in the Colorado mountains shows the diversity of our nation and the distance we traveled to make the equipment exchange and accomplish the mission."
The journey's leg through Colorado with snowcapped, majestic mountains as the backdrop required drivers to apply their skills and training to maintain safety through the 7,800-foot Raton Pass and its steep grades and sharp curves before the final push to Colorado Springs. At the destination, the Soldiers worked tirelessly to download the equipment and perform unscheduled, unplanned deliveries to make successful exchanges of equipment with their counterparts and accomplish their mission.
"We encountered some unforeseen obstacles, but you can expect that on any major mission," said Sgt. 1st Class Ryan Thomas, 168th BSB support transportation noncommissioned officer in charge. "However, it is how you overcome these obstacles by keeping your composure and making intelligent adjustments, things like changing a tire, towing a vehicle, finding extra time for rest or cross-loading equipment for an unplanned second trip that makes a mission successful."
These adjustments, with good planning and the proper execution of the fundamental tasks that made the 168th BSB and its attached personnel make it happen despite unforeseen weather conditions and minor breakdowns like those mentioned by Thomas. It was with the teamwork, enthusiasm, motivation and mission loyalty that the Soldiers pulled together in an all for one and one for all mentality in which no Soldier was left alone to his or her duties that the convoy departed Fort Carson for home with the mission's essential task completed.
The sun was high in the Texas sky on that final day when the convoy rolled into Amarillo for a fuel stop, the mood jovial but still in a mission mindset, knowing there still lay many miles between them, their families and personal beds.
Those miles seemed insignificant and the towns more alive than three days before, the westward migration of "The Grapes of Wrath" gave way to eastbound Route 66's kicks, the Mother Roads leading the heroes home, a job well done resting forever in their chests.
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