As USFOR-A continues to drawdown, USACE consolidates to maintain support

By CourtesyNovember 11, 2014

Gardez resident office preparing to move
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Gardez project office prepares to move to Gamberi
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GAMBERI BASE, Afghanistan - Just a short couple of months ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers boasted two resident offices to provide oversight of all the construction of Afghan National Security Forces facilities taking place within the Regional Command-East.

The Gardez Resident Office, based at Forward Operating Base Lightning in Paktya Province, was responsible for 25 projects in the southern part of RC-East. The Gamberi Resident Office, based at Gamberi Base in Laghman Province, was responsible for 15 projects in the northern part of RC-East. As part of the drawdown efforts by United States Forces-Afghanistan, FOB Lightning was designated for closure and turnover to the Afghan National Army.

Consequently, the Gardez Resident Office needed to find a new home. An analysis of potential options, ranging from Bagram Air Base to Kabul to Gamberi revealed that moving to Gamberi and consolidating with the resident office located there would enable USACE to best maintain oversight of its construction projects.

"Merging the Gardez and Gamberi Resident Offices allowed USACE to maintain an aggressive quality assurance program, despite the reduction of coalition bases." Col. Peter Helmlinger, Transatlantic Afghanistan District commander said. "The office is USACE's tip of the spear supporting overseas contingency operations."

Once the location was decided, next came the major logistical challenge of moving all of the personnel and equipment from FOB Lightning to Gamberi. Right from the beginning, coordination was made between the two offices to ensure that the facilities at Gamberi would be prepared for the influx of personnel and equipment from the Gardez office.

Billeting was adjusted and desks were set up so that the team could continue working as soon as they arrived. Early on the morning of Aug. 26, all of the civilians in the office boarded a helicopter and flew to Gamberi, with one stop along the way at Bagram Air Base. Once they arrived at Gamberi, they were able to quickly get settled into their rooms and begin to unpack their belongings. By that evening, they had gotten their desks set up and were back working on their projects, having only lost one travel day during the relocation.

"The impact to civilian operations at FOB Lightning in the pre-move and actual move were almost nil." Ulrike Krueger, project engineer said. "Communications and computer moves for the civilians were pre-planned and in my case, I hit the deck running at Gamberi with computer, phone, and working files in a gorilla box."

The more challenging part of the process was the equipment. Because the two offices wanted to maximize the amount of time that the civilian members of the team would be able to continue their work, it was decided that the majority of the packing at FOB Lightning would be conducted by the military members after the civilian team flew to Gamberi.

As soon as the civilians flew out on the Aug. 26, the military members of the team immediately began to load up the shipping container with all of the office's equipment. This was completed by the morning of the Aug. 29 and the container was ready to be moved to the loading yard by a rough terrain cargo handler. In a twist of bad luck, as the RTCH was getting into position to pick up the container, it suffered a catastrophic failure with its steering mechanism that rendered it inoperable. With the RTCH broken, and no other way to move the container, the Gardez Resident Office worked with their counterparts in the J-4 to coordinate for a crane, in addition to the flatbed truck that was lined up for the following day.

On the Aug. 30 the flatbed truck arrived, along with a crane to be used to pick up the container and to load it onto the truck. Unfortunately for the team, in spite of the best efforts by the Afghan crane operator, it was not strong enough to lift the container, and so pick-up would be delayed yet another day.

On the Aug. 31, the team from the Gardez Resident Office was able to get support from a crane on FOB Lightning and successfully loaded the container on to the truck. Once the container left, the rest of the relocation went much smoother. The office's two vehicles were loaded up and shipped out, and on Sept. 7, the military members departed by helicopter flight, with the Officer-in-Charge heading on to Gamberi, while the security team members headed south to support USACE efforts in Kandahar province.

Thus, the Corps of Engineers concluded one chapter of its history in Afghanistan while concentrating its remaining personnel and resources to finish strong in its mission to build the infrastructure for the future security of Afghanistan.