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| Spc. Stacy Harms, mechanic and tow truck driver-operator, 3rd Special Troops Battalion motor pool, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division and a Deerfield, Kan., native, unloads a damaged M1114 Humvee he retrieved from outside Forward Operating Base Speicher. U.S. Army photo by Waine D. Haley |
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| ‘Go To’ Guys Repair Vehicles |
Two 101st Airborne Division mechanics have earned
the respect of their peers through hard work and dedication. |
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By Sgt. Waine D. Haley
133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment |
TIKRIT, Iraq, July 6, 2006 -- Many units have a “go-to guy,” the cream-of-the-crop, the guy who can get it done, no matter what. One of the motor pools in the 3rd Brigade Combat Team is fortunate to have two of these guys.
"Whenever we come in with a truck, we can count on the 3rd Special Troops Battalion motor pool to fix the problem,"
2nd Lt. James Gasapo, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Special Troop Battalion |
These mechanics are so good at what they do, they have the reputation of being the motor pool’s top two soldiers.
Spc. Zachary Boudreau and Spc. Stacy Harms, both assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), are well respected by their team leader, Chief Warrant Officer Robert Lakes, battalion maintenance technician.
“Both of these soldiers are my “go-to-soldiers,” Lakes said. “These are the guys when I have to get a job done, and it has to get done right the first time ... I give these jobs to them. I wish I could have about 30 more of these two (soldiers). They both have good attitudes and I’ll take a person with a good attitude, who is willing to learn, over the most knowledgeable mechanic with a bad attitude.”
These two soldiers come from very different backgrounds. Harms explained how his father taught him to work on vehicles before he came into the Army. Boudreau had no previous experience.
Experience or not, the Army’s leaders have trained and mentored these two young men into top-notch mechanics and soldiers.
Harms, from Deerfield, Kan., is a mechanic and tow truck driver-operator who spends a lot of his time towing M1114 Humvees that either broke down or received battle damage while outside the security of the base.
Harms said it is the little things that are passed on from the leaders, which makes a difference. He hopes he will have the chance to show new soldiers this important step in building their experience.
Boudreau, from Oakland, Maine, is a mechanic who performs mostly general maintenance tasks but a few extraordinary |
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| Spc. Zachary L. Boudreau, mechanic, 3rd Special Troops Battalion motor pool, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, installs a new wiring harness on a M1114 Humvee. This type of work is normally done by civilian contractors, but with no contractors in the area, Boudreau has become the “go-to” guy. U.S. Army photo by Waine D. Haley |
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ones as well. One of his unique challenges has been replacing wiring harnesses. This is a two-week long task that is normally done by civilian contractors with special training. However, this part of Iraq does not have any of these contractors, so the job of making these Humvees fully mission capable is left up to soldiers like Boudreau.
As different as the two soldiers’ experiences are, so are their hopes for the future. Harms recently extended his enlistment with the hope of becoming an Army aviator. Boudreau said he plans to leave the military to pursue a career in law enforcement.
Regardless of their futures, the two have made a huge impact on the unit’s 97 percent mechanical readiness rating, which means soldiers in the field can count on their equipment being fixed and back in the fight as soon as possible.
“Whenever we come in with a truck, we can count on the 3rd Special Troops Battalion motor pool to fix the problem,” said 2nd Lt. James Gasapo, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Special Troop Battalion. “We work with them on a daily basis, and they’ve never let us down.” |
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