Raider Brigade Turns In Excess Equipment

Defend America News ^ | Staff Sgt. Brent Hunt

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U.S. soldiers at Camp Taji, Iraq, move excess vehicles, or stay-behinds, to a commercial transportation company, which will transport them to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. The vehicles will be repaired, refitted and redistributed to Reserve and National Guard units in the United States. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Brent Hunt
Raider Brigade Turns In Excess Equipment
Because the equipment is no longer used, maintaining the equipment to Army standards requires valuable resources that could be used in the fight.
By U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Brent Hunt 1st Brigade Combat Team 4th Infantry Division CAMP TAJI, Iraq, April 4, 2006 — Taking the first step toward shrinking the brigade’s footprint in Taji, the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, is moving its excess vehicles and equipment from here to Kuwait. “This (movement) benefits both the unit and the Army,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Lester Layman, executive officer, 1st Brigade Combat Team, adding that the equipment was left behind from previous rotations for follow-on forces to use. “The Department of Defense has made a concerted effort to replace all of the old humvees with the new up-armored ones. We no longer use trucks that are not armored off of the base, leaving us with a large amount of equipment that we can’t use for the current mission.” U.S. Army Lt. Col. Lester Layman “The Department of Defense has made a concerted effort to replace all of the old humvees with the new up-armored ones,” he added. “We no longer use trucks that are not armored off of the base, leaving us with a large amount of equipment that we can’t use for the current mission.” Because the equipment is no longer used, maintaining the equipment to Army standards expends valuable sustainment resources that could be used in the fight here. Once sent to Kuwait, the equipment will go through a rebuild program. “Some may have armor added on and return to Iraq,” he said. “The rest will be sent back to units in the United States that are short this equipment because they left it here in the first place” Currently, a team of transportation experts travel in Iraq from camp to camp, inventorying the vehicles identified to be sent to Kuwait.	More than 415 vehicles from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, were turned into the Army Materiel Command at Camp Taji, Iraq, to be transported to Kuwait. The vehicles will be refitted, repaired and redistributed to National Guard and Reserve units back in the United States. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Brent Hunt Once the vehicles are accounted for and signed over to the Army Materiel Command, a commercial transportation company transports the vehicles down to Kuwait. From there, the work to get them up to standard is done and they are distributed accordingly. “This is the first step in shrinking our force here because we can’t get out of here until all this equipment is gone,” said U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Johnny Vaughan, a U.S. Army Reservist with the 1107th Aviation Classified Repair Activity Depot out of Springfield, Mo. “We are turning in around 415 vehicles, which is most of the stay-behind vehicles here,” said U.S. Army Warrant Officer Scott Messenger, mobility officer, 1st Brigade Combat Team. “We’ve also transferred another 40 vehicles to other units. With us turning this stuff in now, it minimizes what we will have to turn in when we redeploy back to Fort Hood,” added Messenger.

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Raider's do spring house cleaning.

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Raider Brigade Turns In Excess Equipment
Because the equipment is no longer used, maintaining the equipment to Army standards requires valuable resources that could be used in the fight.