DAEGU, South Korea - With Exercise Operation Pacific Reach happening over the next couple weeks at Pohang, a port city on the southeast Korean Peninsula, different units are tasked to perform specific duties throughout the exercise that allow service members to undergo hands-on training in preparation for a contingency situation.
551st Inland Cargo Transfer Company (ICTC), which falls under the command of the 498th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, played a major role in overseeing the Central Receiving Shipping Point (CRSP).
The CRSP is a site where vehicles and containers come to after arriving on the peninsula. At the CRSP yard, in-transit visibility is provided for all branches of the military that need a staging area before the vehicles and equipment are sent to their final destination.
Approximately 10-15 soldiers from the 551st ICTC are on hand at the CRSP yard so that daily missions run smoothly.
"The vehicles will come in and are separated by unit and destination" said Spc. Brian Katta, 551st ICTC cargo specialist. "The Movement Control Team that we are partnered with have the load plans and the final destinations of where they are all going. We provide fuel and other support while they are here. Our main goal is to get them into the CRSP yard, staged, and ready to roll to their final destination within a 24 hour time frame. We are the ones who do all physical downloading and transporting."
According to Katta, one challenge has been the weather because the CRSP yard is located in an area with lots of mud and dirt so there have been a couple issues with vehicles getting stuck. He said that the situation actually ended up turning into good training because senior soldiers were able to show some of the junior soldiers how to recover stuck vehicles.
"It is exciting to see different units come together" he added. "We've got the ROK Army, ROK Marines, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Navy in this huge joint operation. It is interesting to see the CJLOTS (Combined Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore) operate without a pier or a landing zone and seeing the multinational and the various branches working together."
"I operate some of the vehicles we use to download equipment and act as a ground guide when my battle buddy operates large vehicles," said Pfc. Javier Zhan Wong, 551st ICTC cargo specialist, about his role at the CRSP yard. "I received a lot more training out here in the field and have learned to be more grateful for the small things, like a decent shower."
"This exercise only happens once every two years so a lot of these soldiers that are here for their one year tour will never get to see some of this again because they will get stationed in land-locked units where these kind of LOTS exercises don't happen very often," noted Katta. "For a lot of these guys, this will be a once in a career experience. They are learning stuff that they can take with them and put into their toolbox when they go onto other units. It's a lot of invaluable information."
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