Military

6th Engineer Support Battalion

Designated as 1st Force Service Support Group's bulk-liquids battalion, 6th ESB was charged during Operation Iraqi Freedom with fueling coalition forces as they raced northward through Iraq. They also supplied purified water to the Corps' desert and urban encampments.

In fact, the battalion established a dozen fuel and water points across southern Iraq, including sites in or near Baghdad, Nasariyah, Kut, and Diwaniyah. Since early February, seventy-three motor transport drivers hauled the gear and personnel necessary to operate those sites more than 286,000 miles with roughly 300 vehicles.

But the more than 200 successful convoys would not have rolled without the diligence of the battalion's mechanics.

Mechanics completed more than 250 equipment repair orders and answered more than 150 requests to perform on-site repairs or recoveries for mechanically broken down or otherwise stranded vehicles.