THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 4, 1996 TAG: 9605040395
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALISON BOLOGNA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
In efforts to ``move America's Army into the 21st Century'' about 1,600 people participated in the annual Sea Emergency Deployment Readiness Exercise on Friday at the Norfolk Naval Base.
Exercise Dragon Team 7-96 began April 23 in Fort Campbell, Ky., where an aviation task force were deployed by rail and highway to Jacksonville, Fla. There, 35 helicopters were partially disassembled and wrapped in white plastic, for transport to Norfolk, marking the middle of the exercise.
Soldiers are now unloading about 470 pieces of equipment, including cargo trucks and containers, from a fast sealift ship called the Antares. Within 48 hours, that equipment, which filled the six level ship, should be unloaded and on its way to Fort Eustis. The helicopters will also be reassembled and sent back to Fort Campbell.
``This is something I never saw before,'' said Capt. Albert Stahl, a combat soldier. ``I'm one of the bullet slingers, but this work looks just as hazardous.''
Soldiers are using 140 ton truck-mounted cranes to load equipment. One of the officers said that it takes six soldiers and eight minutes to move one piece of equipment by crane.
``This is challenging work because the equipment is so much bigger than I am,'' said Priscilla Leonard, one of the soldiers participating in the exercise. ``But we have to do it. This is one way to protect the country - get the equipment and troops out there.''
Soldier James Springstube agreed.
``It's hard because we've got to get all the vehicles ready under deadlines,'' he said. ``We have to learn to train efficiently because we fight like we train.''
Part of the exercise's design is to ``be ready'' for all types of port conditions that troops can encounter overseas while transporting equipment and soldiers. An improved port, or world-class port, like Norfolk, usually poses no major difficulties, officials said. But during Desert Storm, what was considered a world-class port, ad Dammam, Saudi Arabia, was not entirely equipped to handle the Army's transportation needs.
Other ports, like those in Somalia, are degraded and require more work. The army is simulating a Somalia-like scenario on Craney Island in Portsmouth. In these conditions, ships drop ramps onto a floating causeway so trucks and other equipment can be driven to shore.
Another major objective behind this exercise is to test how the Army keeps track of its equipment.
``There's so much equipment that hits the ground that we need to know where it is at all times,'' said Maj. David Cotter, operation officer. ``With our equipment today, we can find a broken mirror or a dent in one of our trucks if we need to.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by CANDICE C. CUSIC, The Virginian-Pilot
Members of the 7th Transportation Group supervise the lifting of a
rough-terrain forklift from the deck of the sealift ship, the
Antares.
by CNB