by John Randt
WASHINGTON (Army News Service,
July 19, 1999) -- A third
shipload of Army equipment bound for Kosovo left Beaumont,
Texas, early Sunday morning on its way to the port of
Thessaloniki, Greece.
Military vehicles and other
pieces of equipment from
three installations were loaded aboard the Osprey last week by
the Military Traffic Management Command's 596th Transportation
Terminal Group. The equipment, from Army posts at Fort Lewis,
Wash.; Fort Riley, Kan.; and Fort Drum, N.Y., will augment the
1st Infantry Division task force already on the ground in
Kosovo.
Thousands of soldiers and
hundreds of vehicles have
already moved into Kosovo as part of "Operation Joint Guardian."
The first heavy equipment
for task force units arrived
in Thessaloniki on the USNS Bob Hope on June 30 and the USNS
Soderman July 2 following voyages from Bremerhaven, Germany.
The equipment will support
7,000 Army troops to serve in
Kosovo as part of Operation Joint Guardian. The U.S. Army
contingent known as Task Force Falcon will occupy a southeastern
section in Kosovo.
"This is one of the most
definitive transportation moves
of the entire Kosovo conflict," said Col. Tom E. Thompson,
commander, 598th Transportation Group.
Thousands of pieces of equipment
have or will be moved,
said Thompson. The equipment includes M1 Abrams tanks, M2
Bradley fighting vehicles, howitzers, engineer equipment and
assorted other vehicles.
Approximately 170 soldiers,
civilians, and contractors
have teamed up to conduct port operations in Thessaloniki. MTMC
elements at the port are working side by side with soldiers of
the 29th Support Group, 21st Theater Support Command
(Provisional) out of Kaiserslautern, Germany.
After the first two ships
were unloaded, drivers joined
the vehicles at dockside and moved them to Camp Able Sentry in
Skopje, Macedonia. The equipment linked up with the main body
of 1st Infantry Division soldiers and moved forward into Kosovo.
The Military Traffic Management
Command worked
round-the-clock to unload the vessels, said Maj. Spero Pekatos,
commander, 953rd Transportation Company.
"We got the job done," said
Pekatos. "We moved fast but
worked safely."
Soldiers working for Pekatos showed high spirit.
"We waited for this day
for some time," said Sgt. Ray
Rodriguez, of the 39th Transportation Battalion, Kaiserslautern,
Germany. "We got the equipment where it was going to fast."
Spc. Timothy Hill led vehicles
down the rear
roll-on/roll-off ramp of the Bob Hope.
"I'm feeling good," said Hill, a member of the 377th
Transportation Company, Grafenwoehr, Germany. "This is a new
experience for me."
Among the Army units who
have moved out are the soldiers
with 1st Platoon, Company B, 701st Main Support Battalion, 1st
Infantry Division, from Kitzingen, Germany.
The 47 members of 1st Platoon are all volunteers. The platoon
members, who include eight women, have been training for the
peacekeeping mission since February.
"It is my job, said Spc.Geoff
Childers, 27, a light
wheel vehicle mechanic. "I like doing this stuff."
"It is what I joined the
Army for - I didn't join the
Army to work in a motor pool."
Childers is a Navy veteran of Operation Desert Storm. He has had
previous overseas Army assignments to Haiti and El Salvador.
The soldiers are under the
command of 2nd Lt. Lee
Gregory, 23. Just over a year ago, Gregory was graduating from
the University of New Hampshire.
This year his schooling includes Kosovo.
"I've been working with
these guys for the last eight
months," said Gregory. "These guys are ready to meet the
challenges that will occur."
The platoon mission includes
operating 25 trucks - both
five-ton vehicles and tractor-trailers.
Gregory's platoon sergeant,
Sgt. 1st Class George
Quinones, an 18-year Army veteran, is on his first deployment to
a hot spot.
"I feel good," said Quinones.
"I couldn't have asked for
a better crew. They're all volunteers."
Quinones is on his third
tour to Germany. Previously, he
served a tour with Army Recruiting and worked as a drill
sergeant at Fort Dix, N.J.
"We're like family," said
Quinones. "We started training
as part of a peacekeeping package in February."
Cpl. David Tompsett, 27,
sounded a cautious note.
"I feel it is a place to
be careful," said Tompsett.
"The training we received, we can fall back on."
Tompsett had previously
served in deployments to Croatia
and Kuwait.
In the dark, early morning hours of July 1, Tompsett and members
of the 1st Platoon moved out to their new deployment station:
Kosovo.
(Editor's note: John Randt
is the public affairs officer
for MTMC)
