Published: January 19, 2010
169th Seaport Operations Co. Takes Over Shipping and Receiving
13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) Public Affairs
CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq - Generator light sets illuminate the darkness as the massive roar of diesel engines from 40 tractor trailers, both military and civilian, enter the Victory Base Complex Central Receiving and Shipping Point Yard to be off-loaded. Multiple Heavy Equipment Transporters from the last convoy are finishing uploading two Bradley tracked vehicles. The shift noncommissioned officer in charge, Staff Sgt. Willie Hillman, from St. Augustine, Fla. directs the convoy commander where to send the vehicles to be off-loaded in the various lanes such as vehicles, 20 ft. containers and palletized cargo.
Simultaneously, lane NCO's such as Lansing, Mich. native, Sgt. Thomas Harris takes charge of Soldiers and distributes the duties. Harris exclaims, "Pfc. Filka and Spc. Graniela, ground guide Spc. Kimberlin as he drives that Bradley onto the HET trailer!" The time is now 0300 and the night shift has 6 more hours to go before their shift ends.
Spc. Lizbeth Graniela of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, and a cargo specialist proves that there is no job to large for the 169th Seaport Operations Co., as she downloads a civilian tractor trailer system.
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First Lt. Jacob Vishneski of Shawsville, Va., and the CRSP yard OIC said, "CRSP yard operations can best be described as organized chaos, but the Soldiers of the 169th (Seaport Operations Co.) are up for the challenge." According to Vishneski, the CRSP yard mission is to operate as a centralized supply distribution activity which performs cargo transfer operations and accounts for cargo. The 169th SOC, under the command of the 260th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, recently took over operations at the CRSP yard.
Spc. Jessie Vasquez who hails from Amarillo, Texas, ground guides Pfc. Henry Simpson of Fayetteville, N.C. as he uploads an M105 trailer using a 10K Atlas forklift. Both cargo specialists are with the 169th Seaport Operations Co., under the 260th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 15th Sustainment Brigade.
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"The CRSP yard NCOIC, Sgt. 1st Class Phillip Smith, from Columbus, Ga. has trained the Soldiers well, while ensuring that safety standards are always adhered to," said Vishneski. He added, "Soldiers must be versatile to work in the CRSP environment because they must be able to drive multiple types of vehicles to include M-1115s (HMMWV), Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAPs) and M-1A1 Abrams Tanks. In addition, the 169TH SOC Soldiers must be proficient on the assigned unit equipment which includes various types of material handling equipment such as forklifts."
The Soldiers continue to cross train and learn the different assigned jobs in the CRSP yard. The main sections of the CRSP include the database section, class VII lane, container lane and the cargo lane. The CRSP yard organizes cargo by onward destination. Every section of the yard is co-dependent on the other.
Pfc. Jeremy Armstead from Richmond, Ind. and Pfc. Ryan Filka, a Toledo, Ohio native, both break bulk cargo handlers, strap down a palletized load on a tractor trailer system for transport to a nearby forward operating base. The two Soldiers are members of the 169th Seaport Operations Company, under the 260th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 15th Sustainment Brigade.
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When a loaded convoy comes in, the database section verifies transportation movement requests for the inbound cargo to ensure that they are valid. After validation, the database section disperses paperwork to each lane NCOIC containing tally sheets and TMRs with cargo descriptions, radio frequency identification tag numbers, and container numbers if applicable. The shift NCOIC brings the loaded trucks into the respective lane areas to be inspected by the lane teams. The lane teams verify each individual piece of cargo on the trucks to ensure that the pieces have valid RFID tags, while simultaneously checking the cargo description on the TMRs. As a final check, the lane NCOICs utilize TIC sheets to annotate every piece of cargo that is downloaded along with the TMR numbers and RFID numbers. As the cargo is downloaded, the filled out packets are turned into the database section to be in-bounded in the database. This is just a glimpse into the receiving side of the operation. According to Vishneski, the outbound operation is similar but also just as much work.
It is clearly evident that the Victory Base Camp CRSP yard operations are imperative to logistics in the theater of Iraq. Recently, the 169th SOC, with the support of the 260th CSSB has initiated groundwork on expanding the current size of the CRSP yard, in response to the impending responsible drawdown of forces. Despite being at the forefront of receiving and shipping retrograde cargo, the CRSP will still support sustainment operations for the forces which remain in country.
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