Fort Jackson is still fixing the damage nature left it is wake months after the 1,000 year flood struck
the Midlands.
A part of fixing the infrastructure is creating a place where workers can find the proper soil to fill
areas washed away in October such as the borrow pit Soldiers from the 92nd Engineer Battalion out of Fort Stewart, Georgia carved out near Wildcat Road on post May 4-11.
Once the borrow pit is completed workers will have a place to excavate the best soil for rebuild
projects and to deposit old soil, said Capt. Ian Riley, commander of the 526th Horizontal Engineer
Company.
"We are removing all the organic material from the site and we are leveling it out so DPW and other
construction assets can come in here and get dirt so they then can use to build roads," Riley said.
The effort is broken down into teams. One team clears vegetation to allow others to follow behind in
heavy equipment to remove unwanted soil exposing those layers needed for upcoming restoration
projects. The proper soil will have a certain amount of clay, moisture and compactability to be used to shore up roads and dikes. Finally another team would grade and compact the soil to allow precipitation to drain into a retention pond created at the site.
To clear vegetation and trees, the engineers used an excavator to put out organic growth.
"We would take the bucket and tip the trees over and then pull them out of the ground," said Staff
Sgt. Matthew Hollabaugh, one of the leaders at the retention pond. "If we can't move them with brute force we just take them by the root and pull them out."
Loaders would pick the dirt up and put in a dump truck that would then drive out of the pit. Other machines such as the scraper can lower the rear section of the vehicle to "basically slice off a layer of dirt and put it right into its own bucket," Riley said.
To get the water to drain correctly, the unit used graders to level the soil to the proper angle.
"We are going to grade it in a way that will allow any rain water to flow from the northeast corner to
the southwest corner so it will drain to the retention pond," Riley said.
All the heavy equipment ate through fuel, but not as much as a single M1 Abrams tank which can
chew through as much as 300 gallons every eight hours.
The unit's more than 10 engineer vehicles had run through "900 gallons this morning," said Sgt. John Valdez, the unit's Soldier in charge of fuel May 5. "We went through 2,000 gallons yesterday. Overall it's not too bad."
This is a good opportunity to train on our MOS proficiencies, but also this can help Fort Jackson recover from the flooding, Riley said.
The engineers were double-tapping helping in the post recovery as well as giving newer Soldiers "stick time" or learning how to use the equipment.
"Engineers are really flexible," he said. "This is just a small part of what we can do. We can build
roads, airfields and can clear landing zones."
As the weeklong project comes to an end, Sgt. Quinn Robins, one of the supervisors at the site
praised his troop's efforts.
"It's going really good," he said as trucks were filled with soil. "It's going pretty smooth. It's always
good to have a learning experience."
As Robins counted the trucks he was able to keep track of the amount of earth they had moved. The
engineers, by Robins' count, moved roughly 2,000 cubic yards of soil a day.
Fort Jackson saved the Army money by using the engineer company instead of contractors.
"It costs the Army about a third of what it would cost if a contractor came out here," Riley said as he watched his Soldiers moving massive amount of earth from the borrow pit.
While the troops relished working such a large project they were aware of the help they were giving Fort Jackson.
"It's an honor to be asked to come up here and help," Hollabaugh said.
Maybe the troops will be asked to help again soon.
The company is just clearing the borrow pit during this project, but "one day we would like to return and help build the roads," Riley said.
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