Combat Escort Teams Ensure Safe Arrivals

June 10, 2010
By SPC Spencer Rhodes, Courtesy of DVIDS
Camp Buehring, Kuwait

Like every post throughout Kuwait, Camp Buehring has many Soldiers from the Florida Army National Guard's 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, each battalion focusing on a different mission.

Staff Sergeant Jessel Rojas of D Company, 1st Battalion, 124th Infantry Regiment, and his Combat Escort Team (CET) are just one of the many CETs at Camp Buehring traveling with supply trucks to different posts throughout Iraq to ensure the safe arrival of each convoy.

Rojas, along with the 11 other Soldiers that make up the CET, prepare everything to the minutest detail. The tasks, called Pre-Combat Checks and Pre-Combat Inspections, ensure Humvees are ready to go, gear and ammunition are accounted for, and each Soldier is ready for the mission.

"You need to check the small things; make sure they're all taken care of and that everything you need is ready to go by your starting point time," said Rojas.

Not only is it important to make sure the small things are taken care of, but communication between units on mission is critical. If a problem arises on mission, all members of the convoy need to know what's going on. For the CET, they need to be able to assess the problem, and act on it as soon as they can.

The team escorts convoys consisting of Army transportation units, in addition to vehicles driven by third-country nationals. Army transportation units are an integral part of the mission; coordinating with them can mean the difference between a smooth mission and an extended one.

"It's important when working with other units to make sure everyone on the mission is on the same page by the starting point time. We usually talk to each other prior to the mission and work everything out before the mission starts," said Rojas.

According to Specialist Samuel Honore, one of the drivers in the CET, the group leaves early the first day since there is more to prepare initially than throughout the rest of the convoy. The team stops at the border, mounts their crew-served weapons and makes any last-minute preparations prior to departure.

While traveling, the trucks are generally quiet. Occasionally idle conversation interrupts the silence, and brief communication between vehicles hisses through the mikes. The clicking sound of the electrically powered turret can be heard as the gunner scans his designated area of the road for anything of significant interest on their way to the next post.

After a long trip on the road, Rojas's team prefers to get as much rest as possible. How and when they sleep varies from individual to individual. Whether it's staying up for long hours to sleep later the next day, eating midnight chow or going to bed particularly early, most do what they can to get as much rest as possible before the next leg of the mission.

Sergeant Omar Colom, a truck commander in the CET, says they usually spend the majority of the day waiting to get on the road again. A lot of that day is spent sleeping, or visiting the shops run by local nationals that offer various items at very low cost. Colom also says they usually end up staying at each camp for more than one day, often due to unexpected circumstances.

As long as the missions are, sometimes the wait for the next mission is just as long. For Rojas's team, the convoys aren't looked at as cumbersome or unwanted.

"Just getting out of the country is nice, it's something different," said Specialist Guillermo Ramirez, the resident combat medic for the CET.

After almost a week of traveling, hopping from tent to tent at different posts each day, their own barracks are a welcome sight. Many agreed that their mission was an exemplary one, and look forward more just like it.

"This is actually one of the smoothest missions we've been on since we deployed. It's the first time we haven't stayed somewhere more than one night," said Colom.

Depending on how long each mission is, the group can go on multiple missions per month, says Major Franklin Massey, company commander for D Company.