Photo Essay: 485th Engineer Company prepares for deployment with Fort McCoy rail operations

Army Reserve Soldiers with the 485th Engineer Company of Arlington Heights, Ill. fought a late-winter snowstorm to conduct rail loading on Mar. 18, 2022, at Fort McCoy, Wis.

The 485th was loading vehicles in preparation for their upcoming overseas deployment.

First Lt. Payden Howard, unit executive officer said that despite the weather, the 485th Soldiers know that mission comes first.

"Today we are executing railhead operations in order to stage out our equipment and gear in preparation for movement to our ultimate destination," Howard said. "A little snow doesn't stop us."

For decades, Fort McCoy has offered outstanding rail services to units training or preparing for mobilization. Rail loading training is facilitated by employees with the Fort McCoy Logistics Readiness Center Transportation Division.

“The railyard at Fort McCoy offers a tremendous capability for our mission as a mobilization force generation installation, " Fort McCoy Garrison Commander Col. Michael Poss said. "It has been utilized often over the past two decades in support of DoD operations worldwide."

Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.

The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on the Defense Visual Information Distribution System at https://www.dvidshub.net/fmpao, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”

Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base.