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MAMMOTH PORT OPERATION MOVES V CORPS EQUIPMENT FOR OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM

V Corps Release

Release Date: 1/28/2004

By Spc. Kristopher Joseph V Corps Public Affairs Office

ANTWERP, Belgium -- Belgium is a land famous for its diamonds and chocolate, but in V Corps, it's equally famous as a hard-working seaport city that serves as a pivotal movement point for thousands of tons of equipment moving to and from the corps' many deployments.

As the port here is already busily engaged in bringing home several corps units that served in the first iteration of Operation Iraqi Freedom, this week it simultaneously took on another corps operation moving in the other direction, serving as a primary logistical launching pad for the deployment of the corps' 1st Infantry Division to OIF2.

The "Big Red One" division, with the help of the Military Traffic Management Command, U.S. Army Europe, the U.S. Navy, Belgian port employees and the Belgian army, has been shipping its acres of gear from here to the Middle East in an operation spanning approximately two weeks.

Over those two weeks, roughly 10,000 vehicles and pieces of equipment equaling 70,000 tons of cargo will be shipped out for Southwest Asia. About 8,000 pieces of the total belong to the division, while the remaining 2,000 belong to USAREUR's 21st Theater Support Command, which will join the Big Red One in OIF2.

The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command has provided 20 cargo vessels to accomplish this mission. Each of the vessels, or "floating parking garages," as Merchant Marine Capt. Christopher Begley of the USNS Red Cloud calls them, measures 950 feet in length and has a cargo storage area of 394,000 square feet - an area that would cover more than eight football fields. One vessel is capable of carrying an entire U.S. Army armor or air assault battalion, and the ship's decks have ample space for lashing down helicopters, tanks, trucks and other large vehicles.

Some soldiers will accompany the equipment to its final destination. Called "supercargoes," these soldiers are responsible for the accountability and transition of equipment at both the beginning and end of the division's OIF2. This promises that these soldiers will be some of the first to arrive in the Middle East and the last to leave.

Staff Sgt. James Graves normally works on airframes for Black Hawk helicopters for the division, but was picked to be on a "supercargo" team.

"I used to work on a shipyard before I joined the Army, so I think that had something to do with why I was chosen for this," Graves said. Graves is no stranger to deployment. He returned home from an eight-month stint in Kosovo last July, but said he's looking ahead to the challenge of OIF2 and the added responsibility of being a "supercargo" while still doing his normal job.

"Somebody has to do it," Graves said. "Why not me?"

Putting the equipment on ships is just a small part of the "shipping" process. Moving mountains of gear takes long-term, precise planning from the top level down. Soldiers in units performing maintenance; garrison employees conducting inspections and commands overseeing rail and barge loading operations to get the gear to port are just some of the some of the pieces in the larger puzzle. Once at port, soldiers run a 24-hour operation that includes non-stop re-inspections, inventories and planning.

"So far it has been a great success," said Capt. Edward Wenner, aide to Brig. Gen. Stephen D. Mundt, 1st Infantry Division's assistant division commander for support. "This is an amazing operation showing a lot of units working together."