thedrifter
12-30-06, 07:20 PM
Combat Operations Keep Amtrac's Maintenance Marines Busy
by Lance Cpl. Bryan Eberly
Marines with Maintenance Platoon, B Company, 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5 gladly have their hands full.
Not only do the trackers maintain the amphibious assault vehicles for their sections, they also go on missions with their platoons when called to action.
"When that platoon, or a section goes out, those Marines are with them," said Master Sgt. Earl C. Westerberg the 40-year-old ordinance maintenance chief, from Escanaba, Mich.
Each AAV platoon has four mechanics attached to help out with maintenance problems that come up from time to time, Westerberg said.
"When we're out, we do pretty much the same thing as the crewmen do," said Cpl. Joshua T. Phelps, a 26-year-old amphibious assault vehicle repairman attached to Headquarters Platoon, from Fredonia, Ky. "If something breaks, we try to fix it on the spot."
One such incident occurred recently while Headquarters Platoon was conducting operations in Ferris and Ameriyah, Iraq, said Lance Cpl. Zachary L. Cook, a 20-year-old AAV repairman with Headquarters Platoon, from Omaha, Neb.
"I guess they had a 'trac' that got into a ditch," Cook said. "Not only did they have to repair what went wrong with that, but they also had to move into recovery operation, which is, falls completely under mechanics."
If they can't fix the AAV on the spot, they'll tow it back to the ramp on Camp Fallujah and repair it there, Phelps said.
Depending on the damage, the mechanics try to fix the vehicle as soon as possible, Phelps said.
"If it's that important we'll have to come down the night we get in," he said. "Usually it's the next day we'll come down and fix what's broken."
"There's a lot of times when people are up all night," Cook said. "They're just up all night pulling out packs, like engines and transmissions and coolant tile and everything. Just pulling it all out and replacing it with new things. They just sleep here."
The most recent accident the Marines fixed was an AAV with broken suspension arms, Cook said.
"We were out in Ferris-town, just this last time, and they were riding back from delivering supplies to the hospital," he said. "I guess the driver saw a whole series of things along this street, they were on that he didn't like, so he tried to get out of the way while keeping up speed, 'cause you don't want to slow down in the middle of a city."
As the driver tried to veer out of the way, he ran into a curb and tore a road wheel through a track, Cook said.
"It just screwed up a whole lot of the arms," he added.
Marines spent about five hours trying to fix the vehicle in the middle of a combat zone, but were not harmed, Cook said.
They towed the AAV to the ramp on Camp Fallujah, where Marines spent the majority of the day, Dec. 23, repairing the suspension arms.
"We replaced, I would say two suspension arms," Cook said. "And then everything that entailed, taking out the torsion tubes, or torsion bars and everything."
Marines with Maintenance Platoon work a two-sided job. On one side, they are crewmembers aboard their AAV's, helping out on patrols and missions. On the other side, they are also mechanics, ready to break out their tools at any time and fix the problems that occur on the missions.
"When that happens I just turn into a mechanic again, and go deal with the problem until it's gone," Cook said.
Ellie
by Lance Cpl. Bryan Eberly
Marines with Maintenance Platoon, B Company, 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5 gladly have their hands full.
Not only do the trackers maintain the amphibious assault vehicles for their sections, they also go on missions with their platoons when called to action.
"When that platoon, or a section goes out, those Marines are with them," said Master Sgt. Earl C. Westerberg the 40-year-old ordinance maintenance chief, from Escanaba, Mich.
Each AAV platoon has four mechanics attached to help out with maintenance problems that come up from time to time, Westerberg said.
"When we're out, we do pretty much the same thing as the crewmen do," said Cpl. Joshua T. Phelps, a 26-year-old amphibious assault vehicle repairman attached to Headquarters Platoon, from Fredonia, Ky. "If something breaks, we try to fix it on the spot."
One such incident occurred recently while Headquarters Platoon was conducting operations in Ferris and Ameriyah, Iraq, said Lance Cpl. Zachary L. Cook, a 20-year-old AAV repairman with Headquarters Platoon, from Omaha, Neb.
"I guess they had a 'trac' that got into a ditch," Cook said. "Not only did they have to repair what went wrong with that, but they also had to move into recovery operation, which is, falls completely under mechanics."
If they can't fix the AAV on the spot, they'll tow it back to the ramp on Camp Fallujah and repair it there, Phelps said.
Depending on the damage, the mechanics try to fix the vehicle as soon as possible, Phelps said.
"If it's that important we'll have to come down the night we get in," he said. "Usually it's the next day we'll come down and fix what's broken."
"There's a lot of times when people are up all night," Cook said. "They're just up all night pulling out packs, like engines and transmissions and coolant tile and everything. Just pulling it all out and replacing it with new things. They just sleep here."
The most recent accident the Marines fixed was an AAV with broken suspension arms, Cook said.
"We were out in Ferris-town, just this last time, and they were riding back from delivering supplies to the hospital," he said. "I guess the driver saw a whole series of things along this street, they were on that he didn't like, so he tried to get out of the way while keeping up speed, 'cause you don't want to slow down in the middle of a city."
As the driver tried to veer out of the way, he ran into a curb and tore a road wheel through a track, Cook said.
"It just screwed up a whole lot of the arms," he added.
Marines spent about five hours trying to fix the vehicle in the middle of a combat zone, but were not harmed, Cook said.
They towed the AAV to the ramp on Camp Fallujah, where Marines spent the majority of the day, Dec. 23, repairing the suspension arms.
"We replaced, I would say two suspension arms," Cook said. "And then everything that entailed, taking out the torsion tubes, or torsion bars and everything."
Marines with Maintenance Platoon work a two-sided job. On one side, they are crewmembers aboard their AAV's, helping out on patrols and missions. On the other side, they are also mechanics, ready to break out their tools at any time and fix the problems that occur on the missions.
"When that happens I just turn into a mechanic again, and go deal with the problem until it's gone," Cook said.
Ellie