By U.S. Army Sgt. Tim Sander
345th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment |
FORWARD OPERATING BASE ORGUN-E, Afghanistan, June 7, 2006 -- “I don’t believe in band-aids; I expect my mechanics to fix the problem,” said U.S. Army 1st Lt. Raymond R. Longoria, maintenance platoon leader for F Company, 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment from Fort Drum, N.Y.
"I personally have not heard the soldiers complain at all. The troops here are just fantastic; if you give them a tasking, they knock it out."
U.S. Army 1st Lt. Raymond R. Longoria |
Longoria and his team of 37 soldiers are responsible for maintaining everything from vehicles to weapons for the entire Regional Command of Eastern Afghanistan.
The average workday for these wrench-turning warriors begins at 5:30 a.m. and ends around 7:30 p.m., said Longoria. “However,” he adds, “If a generator goes down or they need a |
 |
| U.S. Army Spc. Justin Smith, a metal-worker for Fox Company, 287 Infantry Regiment, cleans the metal of a rack he is building for a dining facility. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Tim Sanders |
|
|
 |
| U.S. Army Spc. Joel Totherow, a mechanic for Fox Company, 287 Infantry Regiment, uses a pry-bar to position a transmission into a humvee. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Tim Sanders |
|
 |
vehicle ready for a mission the next day, these guys will get under the hood and work all night to get that vehicle ready.”
Despite the harsh environmental conditions and the long work hours, morale in F Company is extremely high.
“I personally have not heard the soldiers complain at all,” said Longoria. “The troops here are just fantastic; if you give them a tasking, they knock it out.”
U.S. Army Spc. Joel Totherow, a mechanic in F Company, said he loves working on trucks and he’s happy when he’s fixing things.
Longoria said he is lucky to have a team that works so well together.
“These soldiers trained really hard together for the last year to come out here and do this mission,” he said. “Now that they’re here, they work together, they play together and they live together, so they’ve built a pretty tight-knit group.”
“The platoon is really close; we take care of each other,” said U.S. Army Pfc. Janet Hughes, weapons specialist for F Company. |
|
|
|
