Providers support movement-control operations in Diyala Province

By 13th Sustainment Command Expeditionary Public AffairsMarch 13, 2010

Providers support movement-control operations in Diyala Province
A civilian contractor watches over an outbound KBR, Inc. convoy leaving the Convoy Support Center March 9 at Joint Base Balad, Iraq. The 858th Movement Control Team, 49th Transportation Battalion, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) tracks and c... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq - Soldiers with the 858th Movement Control Team are responsible for the quality control of cargo being transported through Joint Base Balad, Iraq, and its surrounding bases.

At the traffic-control point at JBB, the 858th MCT tracks the time and movement of military convoys, route clearance teams, patrols and private security companies entering and exiting the base, said Capt. Timothy Wolters, commander of the 858th MCT, 49th Transportation Battalion, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary).

Traffic-control points act as the first check-in for convoys moving cargo into theater, said Wolters, a Mount Pleasant, Mich., native. The 858th manages military, as well as American and foreign-national civilian convoys in the staging lanes of the convoy support center, he said.

The 858th MCT supports the largest area of operation of any MCT in Iraq, said 1st Lt. Randell Krug, the unit's mobility officer and a Bad Axe, Mich., native. As an area support MCT, the 858th provides movement control operations for roughly 10 bases in the Diyala Province, he said.

More than half the cargo moving from the north and east to the south will pass through JBB, said Krug.

The 858th MCT can get that equipment moved anywhere in Iraq, said Wolters.

"The biggest thing is to help any unit get their equipment moved," he said. "Whether it be something you strap to a pallet, the 40-foot (containers), or vehicles."

Since its time in theater, the 858th MCT has sent out two mobile teams to coordinate movement operations for redeploying units in the Diyala Province area, one at Contingency Operating Location Warhorse and another at COS Caldwell, said Wolters.

"They supervised the upload of cargo and verified what cargo was on what convoys," he said. "They sent that information back to (JBB) so we could track it when it came through here. We had visibility on it until it went down to Kuwait."

The 858th MCT is slated to transfer authority of their mission to the 512th Transportation Detachment out of Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico, in late March, said Krug.