Side-by-side with Soldiers: Michigan Guardsmen train at ANAD

April 26, 2012

By Mrs Jennifer Bacchus (AMC)

ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. -- If you traveled 900 miles north on I-75 from Atlanta, you would arrive at the town of Grayling, Mich. Nearby is Camp Grayling, the largest National Guard training site in the U.S. and home of the 1071st Maintenance Company, which visited Anniston Army Depot this month.

The Soldiers of the 1071st worked side-by-side with depot employees, learning skills they will need during future missions, either at home or abroad.

"Our intent was to come here to gain experience on equipment we don't have at home or don't get at home," said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Bruce Henry Dale Jr., the unit's senior ordnance maintenance technician. "Our Soldiers are seeing things they have never seen before and working on equipment they've never seen."

The company's heavy tracked vehicles deployed with another unit a few years ago and the 1071st has never had a Stryker at Camp Grayling, either for maintenance or use.

"We mostly work on HMMWVs at home," said Spec. Anica Brooke Jankowski, a wheeled vehicle mechanic, who enjoyed learning to repair Strykers. "It has been nice to see the repair process on a Stryker from a gutted hull to a finished vehicle."

Four of the company's six platoons visited ANAD. Two platoons trained here April 2-13 and the others arrived April 16 and will depart tomorrow.

During the second round of Soldiers, most were assigned to the depot's Stryker shops, according to 1st Sgt. Daniel Stephen Whitmoyer, a mechanical maintenance supervisor.

"It is good experience for them to train on a vehicle most have not worked on before and they are staying busy, which is good, because we came here to work," said Whitmoyer.

Not all the Soldiers with the 1071st were assigned to the maintenance shops. Spec. Amber Nicole Agar, a chemical operations specialist, received her training from the depot's Safety Office.

As the company's nuclear, biological, radiological and chemical specialist, her job doesn't involve the vehicles, but the safety of her fellow Soldiers.

"I hadn't thought of safety the way the Safety Office here does," said Agar. She said the two weeks she spent with the Safety staff opened her eyes to hazards faced by the 1071st even during the most mundane tasks, such as the need for fall protection.

No matter where they worked during training, every Soldier expressed their appreciation for ANAD's willingness to teach and the employees' dedication to the Soldiers.

"The workforce here is phenomenal. They know their job, do it well and take pride in it," said Staff Sgt. James Lynn Schwartz, armament maintenance supervisor for the 1071st. "We wish we could give more back to the employees at Anniston because they protect us with the equipment rebuilt here."ANAD's willingness to train and dedication to the Soldiers.

"The employees here are phenomenal. They know their job, do it well and take pride in it," said Staff Sgt. James Lynn Schwartz, the armament maintenance supervisor for the 1071st. "We wish we could give more back to the employees at Anniston because they protect us with the equipment rebuilt here."