Page 8 - Ft. Irwin High Desert Warrior March 3 2017

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Army Values
High Desert Warrior March 3, 2017
www.aerotechnews.com/ntcfortirwin
LRC-Irwin keeps National Training Center
ready for premier training in Mojave Desert By Jon Micheal Connor
army sustainment Command Public affairs
FORT IRWIN, Calif. — Located in southeastern California’s Mojave Desert is the Army’s National Training Center at Fort Irwin.
No other Army post offers a climate closer to that of Southwest Asia, with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees in the summer and lows in the 30s during the winter. Very little rain on average adds to a rough and rugged environment.
It’s also where the Logistics Readiness Center-Irwin conducts the base operations logistics support necessary to keep this installation operating. It is responsible for supply subsistence management operations, supply and services operations, transportation services, food service management, and logistics support for training, mobilization and deployment of units.
Comprised of approximately 1,200 square miles, Fort Irwin is about the size of Rhode Island and is isolated from densely populated areas. This area is ideal for maneuvers and ranges, with airspace restricted to military use.
The 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment serves as the opposing force to units of all services coming there for a 21-day training rotation that comes to as close to war as it gets.
LRC-Irwin takes great pride in supporting combatant commanders leading Brigade Combat Teams with some of the Army’ s toughest training.
“Our concern is to ensure that the logistics support to the Brigade Combat Teams that come here to train is at that national standard so that they get the best training possible,” said Jerry Walsh, LRC director.
“To do that means that we’ve got to be able to provide them with the logistics that they need on time and to be at the level they need it in order to effectively execute the training that they come here to conduct,” he said.
LRC-Irwin is one of the 70-plus LRCs worldwide that fall under the U.S. Army Sustain- ment Command, whose higher headquarters is the U.S. Army Materiel Command. This LRC reports to the 404th Army Field Support Brigade, headquartered at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.
Since equipment and training go hand-in-hand, LRC-Irwin has nearly $900 million in equipment on its installation consolidated property book. The Property Book Office manages eight Unit Identification Codes and more than 100 hand receipts. On average it processes 4,188 major transactions annually.
“As the LRC, we are the face of the logistics spear and I will tell you it is very important of the logistical service that we provide – for both the rotation and installation,” said Blanch Watkins, LRC deputy director and Plans and Operations chief. “We have to be top-notch at all levels. For that to happen, we have to make sure all policies and procedures have been followed and are properly in place as directed by Army regulation.”
In October 2012, AMC took control of the LRCs from the Installation Management Com- mand. The transfer provided a number of benefits for the Army by reducing redundancy, standard- izing processes, improving contract management, and enhancing quality and visibility of services.
ASC then began managing the LRCs to align them with the Army’s Materiel Enterprise.
Thanks to past visits by ASC personnel, operational issues were discovered that needed ad- dressing, said Kevin Babiak, facilities coordinator, Plans and Operations.
As examples, Babiak cited the need for a hazardous compliance shade and storage area in the maintenance facility; loading docks lacked proper fire suppression; and unleveled platforms didn’t allow 871A3 tactical trailers to “marry up” to the loading docks. This prevented forklifts from being used to upload equipment in trailers and trucks, resulting in more work than necessary, Babiak said, and was a safety issue too. All issues were addressed and remedied.
ASC personnel also found no means to produce heat in the maintenance building. Heat is needed during the winter as temperatures fall near freezing. Hence, the bay doors had to be kept open to allow for proper ventilation of exhaust fumes from vehicles being worked on, Babiak said.
Radiant heaters were put in, and a hose system was installed to capture carbon monoxide exhaust fumes and blow them outside, allowing the bay doors to remain shut in the winter for clean air and heat retention.
“The cold just doesn’t leave the building,” explained Michael Cox, head of the LRC’s Main- tenance Division.
The LRC’s Maintenance Division is responsible for all vehicles used by the garrison and other Army elements at Irwin. “Therefore it stays extra cold longer. It’s kind of hard to have someone work on something when it’s an ice box [inside],” Cox said.
“We get a lot more production [now] in the winter time because we’re able to start work at 7 o’clock in the morning, instead of people being slower, waiting for until it warms up at 9
Photo by Jon Micheal Connor, ASC Public Affairs
Soldiers from a Brigade Combat Team, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, prepare their vehicles before going in the “box” at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California. One of LRC-Irwin’s main missions is to support the 10 scheduled rotations there.
Photo by Jon Micheal Connor, ASC Public Affairs
Painted rocks greet the entrance to Fort Irwin, California. Units training here have painted their crests and insignias on the boulders since World War II.
o’clock,” Cox said. “The heat’s just tremendous. It’s been a great asset for us to have that done.” Cox added that regular servicing of vehicles is critical in the desert.
“The sand does create a large problem with your air filter systems, your fans, your blowers ...
they get filled up with sand; they won’t work,” he said.
Because of the mountainous terrain, getting a unit’s equipment to Fort Irwin is no easy task.
In fact, some of the equipment – usually tanks and similar large vehicles – does not initially go there, but instead arrives by rail at the Yermo Annex at the Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, located about 30 miles southwest of Fort Irwin.
Yermo Annex is the heart of the rail operations for Fort Irwin. Direct rail links to Los Angeles and San Diego and the intersection of major interstate highways, make this a strategic location for the military.
Victoria Wagstaffe, chief, Freight Branch, Transportation Division, explained that line haul
See TRAINING, Page 9
For more information go to www.irwin.army.mil