12 December 2007: My shrinking team

I get asked a lot about what it is my team actually does. I'll attempt to keep it simple here and, at the same time, not violate OPSEC. After all, Squeakers is very real and I don't want him nibbling my toes in anger while I'm trying to sleep. My team is called the Deployment Distribution Support Team - Iraq (DDST-I). We're the only team of its type in Iraq. We perform a very vital function in the redeployment of units of brigade-size and larger. Most of the brigades are referred to as Brigade Combat Teams (BCT) because of their unique balance of infantry, artillery, armor, and other specialized war fighting subordinate units. The BCTs deploy for fifteen months. When they come over they are tracked by sophisticated automated movement plans that control all the phased-planning time lines of getting from home station to their FOB in Iraq. This system also provides all the In-Transit Visibility (ITV) of their major end-item equipment (tanks, trucks, etc) and shipping containers. Back at home station the BCTs have assitance through their respective Installation Transportation Office (ITO). This office is normally comprised of civilian contractors, GS-level DOD employees, and a small Army Movement Control Team (MCT). The ITO takes care of ensuring all the equipment is documented, shipped, and that all the automated movement plans are executed. It's a well-oiled machine. It's more difficult when it has to be done in reverse from a combat environment.

The first major obstacle is the fact that there is no ITO for the BCTs in Iraq. That's where my team comes to play. We're like the ITO Forward. I have a section of soldiers that are experts in Transportation Coordinators' Automated Information Management System (TCAIMS). That's the computer software that creates all the movement plans and provides the ITV for equipment. I also have a section that certifies container documentation and serviceability for shipment. Then come my Coast Guard personnel. They are known as the RAID, which stands for Redeployment Assitance Inspection Detachment. My RAID can place the USCG seal on all HAZMAT containers at the FOB. That prevents the HAZMAT containers from being inspected at the port in Kuwait. I can't even start to express how much time and effort we save the BCTs in terms of frustration prevented at the port.

Once a BCT arrives in Iraq I will open up a dialogue with them. Over the next several months my team will provide assistance in TCAIMS and container certification. About three months prior to the BCT redeployment, my team will teach classes that provide overview of the redeployment process, HAZMAT documentation, and automated movement planning. My TCAIMS section will develop the movement plan for the BCT. Independent of my team, the BCT will order Common User Land Transportation (CULT - the trucks that will move all their equipment from their FOB to the port). About two weeks prior to the CULT arrival, my team will arrive to execute all their movement plans, supervise documentation of their equipment, provide the ITV, and seal their HAZMAT containers. VOILA!! We are the ITO Forward! Now you can go back, read my entire blog, and all the missions I talk about will start making sense. Meanwhile, every time you read in the news about the return of a Brigade Combat Team from Iraq you'll know that my team made it happen.

I really don't have that many people on my team. We are highly mobile. Practically everything we do is at the FOB of the supported unit. Balad is just where we are based out of. I've spent all of eighteen days in Balad since mid-August. By the time this deployment is complete my team will have spent well over 250 days on the road. We prefer it that way. I sent one of my soldiers back to Balad today so he could clear his hand receipt and then return to Kuwait. He's going on R&R and by the time he comes back we'll be done with the bulk of our missions. For that reason, I've instructed him to stay in Kuwait after his R&R. I won't need him here and can't justify bringing him back. He's not happy about that but he's accepted this. That's another wonderful thing about my team - they all volunteered to serve with me and want to stay in Iraq for the entire deployment. Over the next few weeks I'll be sending several of the current team back to Kuwait. By the end of January I'll be down to a skeletan crew until our replacements arrive.

It will be a shrinking team. However, where transporters are concerned I don't think so few have ever done as much as what we have accomplished on this deployment. I'm damn proud of all of them and would gladly serve with any of them again. We aren't finished though. There's still some work to go before we go home.