On The Road: The Pit Crews

When you and your family or friends take that vacation this summer and head out on the road you have the luxury of knowing that if things don’t go so good you have some options; Triple A, the next gas station, a cell phone, Wal-Mart.
When you are out on the road in Iraq you have to be self-reliant. There aren’t any E-Z Marts to stop at to buy a soda, Triple A isn’t going to come and give you a boost and you can’t just pull into the next McDonald’s to go to the bathroom. In Iraq a soldier on the road has to have a plan, have resources and have the training necessary to do what are routine tasks back in the states.

Our convoys start at COB* Adder. After we leave we join up with anywhere from 40 to 50 semis then we escort them for about 300 miles in a single trip. We travel primarily at night when its cooler, somewhat more secure and we don’t have to fight the traffic. In the Army we say that ‘we own the night’. For our convoys that is true. That’s the time of day when we do the majority of our mission.
The mission is to escort supplies from point A to B and make sure they get there safely. We escort things like parts, supplies, equipment, ammo and fuel. In fact, since we’ve been here we have escorted almost 5,000,000 gallons of fuel to various points in Iraq. At $4 a gallon back home that is a lot of valuable stuff.

Along the way we encounter the same problems on the road that you do. Traffic jams, fuel stops and flat tires. We plan our route to include secure fuel stops but sometimes you cannot plan for unexpected stops like when you are waiting for an IED to get cleared or you are stuck idling on the road until a traffic problem clears. When fuel runs low we pull out the 5 gallon ‘Jerry Cans’ and do a tactical refuel. The photo is SGT West, aka ‘Little Budha,’ putting about $50 of diesel in the tank. He’s wearing 60lbs of gear and its 110 degrees in the middle of nowhere.

‘Little Budha’ is like a one man NASCAR pit crew. I watched him on two occasions dump fuel into hummers on the side of the road. When we do roadside pit work there isn’t a pit and time is always an issue. The longer you take to fix or fuel the more exposed you are to the elements and to the enemy. We say ‘slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.’ In other words don’t get in a hurry and things will go a lot better. Little Budha is smooth. Especially when it comes to getting a truck back on the road.
Flats are another battle drill that is done with NASCAR precision. Every truck in the convoy has a job to do when a tire needs changed. Some move to form a secure perimeter. Another pulls next to the ruptured tire to shield the crew and provide power to an impact wrench. Still others stay with the convoy to guard the flock.

These pictures were taken at 3am on my last road trip. I felt like an idiot. I mean, I can handle myself when we are in contact. I can change a tire on my civilian truck. But I had not been a part of this crew when the Tire Change battle drill is executed. I just stayed out of the way, held a flashlight and took pictures. Mainly I just stayed out of the way.

From the time we called over the radio that we had a flat to the time we were pulling out with a fresh tire was probably 10 minutes. Sergeant Mayo and Staff Sergeant Woodmansee knew exactly what to do. One loosened the lug nuts while another got the jack and impact wrench out of the recovery truck. Then one jacked-up the 15,000 pound vehicle while the other got the spare off the back. Then the tire was replaced and the process was reversed. All this while wearing 60pounds of body armor and keeping their weapons nearby. These guys are good.
When things go wrong out on the road in Iraq these soldiers don’t do a whole lot of standing around and scratching their heads wondering what to do. They know. They execute. They roll on.

Like I said, these guys…and gals…are good.

SABER 02,
Out.

*A COB is a Contingency Operating Base. Basically it’s a secure place where we live and work.