Rainier Combat Cargo: Kickin' Boxes, Keeping 'em Fighting
Navy NewStand
Story Number: NNS030416-09
Release Date: 4/17/2003 4:46:00 PM
By Journalist 1st Class Ron Poole, USS Rainer Public Affairs
ABOARD USS RAINER, At Sea (NNS) -- Underway replenishment (UNREP) is a demanding and inherently dangerous job.
Much like the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, the decks of the replenishment ship USS Rainier (AOE 7) during UNREP can easily be described as a "ballet of chaos."
Pallets of food, stores and ammunition are staged in the cargo handling area like fighter jets waiting for launch. Forklifts and personnel are in constant motion, clearing the deck as quickly as possible so the next sortie of stores can be launched.
Aboard Rainier are a group of professionals who get that job done with the speed, flexibility and safety needed to support the other ships deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Rainier's Combat Cargo division provides stores and ammunition to keep customer ships in the Arabian Gulf on station and in the fight. Since Rainier deployed November 2002, they have safely transferred 5,759 pallets of stores and performed 835 lifts of ammunition.
"We have a good balancing act in keeping our normal obligations and meeting last-minute needs," comments Lt. j.g. Cass Madson of South Milwaukee, Wis., Rainier's combat cargo officer. "We can go from being staged and ready for one ship, and have another come up that needs 35 pallets of stores on deck now," Madson explains.
Being able to deal with the challenge of a constantly changing schedule comes from having storekeepers and gunner's mates integrated in the same division. The blending of rates allows for cross training and, in turn, greater flexibility in getting the job done. "Having gunner's mates and storekeepers in the same division is unique to Rainier. It gives us better teamwork than one would normally see," Madson says.
"Sometimes, we have gunner's mates moving eggs and storekeepers moving ammunition," comments Chief Gunner's Mate Bryan Jackson of Danville, Ind. "It puts them a little out of their environment, but they get the job done."
Having a relatively large division also allows Combat Cargo to run day and night shifts that are tailored to meet the next day's plan. "Our staging system has become more streamlined over the course of the deployment," says Storekeeper 1st Class Rosa Diaz, of San Benito, Tex., Combat Cargo's leading petty officer.
Diaz explains that staging cargo is an involved process. Stores, ammunition and food need to be pulled from stock, palletized, shrink-wrapped or placed in cargo nets for vertical replenishment, and placed in the proper order for transfer to the appropriate customer ship.
Timing sometimes comes into play. "You don't want to have a customer's frozen food sitting out on deck for too long," Diaz says. Even when they have to flex to the schedule, Combat Cargo manages to make sure the milk arrives to their customers still cold and the ice cream still frozen.
As Operation Iraqi Freedom pushes on to victory, Rainier's Combat Cargo division will continue kicking boxes and keeping their customers in the fight.
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