- Reaction score
- 63
- Points
- 530
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/army_routeclearance_040508w/
A safe way paved for troops
Dedicated units created to fight threat of roadside bombs
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Apr 5, 2008 7:25:23 EDT
BAGHDAD — Soldiers with the 84th Engineer Company, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, roll outside the gates of Camp Liberty each day in their odd-looking collection of vehicles equipped with mechanical arms, blower cones and mine rollers.
Then they drive, at less than 1 mph, for up to eight hours combing the urban landscape for signs of buried bombs.
Remaining alert is critical to this dangerous job, but the work can be mind-numbingly boring.
“It gets really monotonous and really old quick,” said Staff Sgt. Raymond McGrew, who is in charge of a crew that rides in a Stryker vehicle with a plow affixed to the front.
“When we see something, we call it out and make sure everybody’s tracking and everybody’s awake,” he said.
Makeshift route-clearance companies such as the 84th Engineer Company are part of every unit’s deployment, but soon that mission will be conducted by specialized Army units.
Roadside bombs have caused up to 70 percent of deaths among U.S. troops in Iraq in the past couple of years. Because sweeping for improvised explosive devices has gained such importance in combat operations, the Army is standing up 28 dedicated route-clearance companies with personnel and equipment authorizations under the modified table of organization and equipment.
The active Army will have 12 such companies, and eight of those will be stood up this year. Another 12 will be stood up in the Reserve and four in the National Guard.
“Because of the kind of war we’re in now, in order to keep routes open, the Army has come up with this design, a clearance company to support maneuver,” said Maj. Michael Payne, operations officer of 8th Engineer Battalion, a unit under the 36th Engineer Brigade.
The first unit, the 937th Engineer Company (Clearance) was stood up at Fort Hood, Texas, and is on orders to deploy in April. The unit went to Iraq in 2006 as C Company, 16th Engineer Battalion of the 1st Armored Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team. The 937th has three route-clearance platoons, one area-clearance platoon, and maintenance and headquarters platoons.
The company consists of close to 200 soldiers and a combination of manned and unmanned vehicles. The 937th will be capable of clearing 156 miles of two-way routes and two acres of open area each day.
“I define it as a movement-to-contact mission where the contact you expect to find are enemy [improvised explosive devices],” said Capt. Dale Caswell, who commanded C Company in Iraq.
The soldiers in that company, he said, did the same route- and area-clearance missions they’ll do in the new company, but they will no longer “own land” where they would have a responsibility to establish deep relationships with locals and conduct foot patrols.
A typical day for the 937th would involve a lot of driving on long stretches of empty road looking for possible IEDs.
“They know it’s going to be a somewhat tedious process sitting in a vehicle for six hours at a time,” said 937th commander Capt. Randy Shultz, who spent a year in Ramadi with the 44th Engineers, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.
Still, Shultz said he believes that his soldiers, and the instructors at the Engineer School at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., understand the importance of the mission.
“We’re definitely getting a lot more love from the schoolhouse than normal units do in training. They did a lot of work to make sure we had what we needed,” Shultz said.
A safe way paved for troops
Dedicated units created to fight threat of roadside bombs
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Apr 5, 2008 7:25:23 EDT
BAGHDAD — Soldiers with the 84th Engineer Company, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, roll outside the gates of Camp Liberty each day in their odd-looking collection of vehicles equipped with mechanical arms, blower cones and mine rollers.
Then they drive, at less than 1 mph, for up to eight hours combing the urban landscape for signs of buried bombs.
Remaining alert is critical to this dangerous job, but the work can be mind-numbingly boring.
“It gets really monotonous and really old quick,” said Staff Sgt. Raymond McGrew, who is in charge of a crew that rides in a Stryker vehicle with a plow affixed to the front.
“When we see something, we call it out and make sure everybody’s tracking and everybody’s awake,” he said.
Makeshift route-clearance companies such as the 84th Engineer Company are part of every unit’s deployment, but soon that mission will be conducted by specialized Army units.
Roadside bombs have caused up to 70 percent of deaths among U.S. troops in Iraq in the past couple of years. Because sweeping for improvised explosive devices has gained such importance in combat operations, the Army is standing up 28 dedicated route-clearance companies with personnel and equipment authorizations under the modified table of organization and equipment.
The active Army will have 12 such companies, and eight of those will be stood up this year. Another 12 will be stood up in the Reserve and four in the National Guard.
“Because of the kind of war we’re in now, in order to keep routes open, the Army has come up with this design, a clearance company to support maneuver,” said Maj. Michael Payne, operations officer of 8th Engineer Battalion, a unit under the 36th Engineer Brigade.
The first unit, the 937th Engineer Company (Clearance) was stood up at Fort Hood, Texas, and is on orders to deploy in April. The unit went to Iraq in 2006 as C Company, 16th Engineer Battalion of the 1st Armored Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team. The 937th has three route-clearance platoons, one area-clearance platoon, and maintenance and headquarters platoons.
The company consists of close to 200 soldiers and a combination of manned and unmanned vehicles. The 937th will be capable of clearing 156 miles of two-way routes and two acres of open area each day.
“I define it as a movement-to-contact mission where the contact you expect to find are enemy [improvised explosive devices],” said Capt. Dale Caswell, who commanded C Company in Iraq.
The soldiers in that company, he said, did the same route- and area-clearance missions they’ll do in the new company, but they will no longer “own land” where they would have a responsibility to establish deep relationships with locals and conduct foot patrols.
A typical day for the 937th would involve a lot of driving on long stretches of empty road looking for possible IEDs.
“They know it’s going to be a somewhat tedious process sitting in a vehicle for six hours at a time,” said 937th commander Capt. Randy Shultz, who spent a year in Ramadi with the 44th Engineers, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.
Still, Shultz said he believes that his soldiers, and the instructors at the Engineer School at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., understand the importance of the mission.
“We’re definitely getting a lot more love from the schoolhouse than normal units do in training. They did a lot of work to make sure we had what we needed,” Shultz said.
