Item Detail Information

e-Document

Interview with MAJ Daniel Williamson, Part II

Copies

0 Total copies, 0 Copies are in, 0 Copies are out.

In this second of two interviews regarding his Global War on Terrorism experiences, Major Dan Williamson discusses his June 2006 through June 2007 deployment to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, during which he served as executive officer for the 24th Transportation Battalion - a terminal battalion that, prior to deploying strictly as a headquarters, had to be retrained as a truck battalion, prepared to fall in on heavy equipment transporter (HET) companies in Kuwait. In fact, during the predeployment phase, Williamson was the battalion's operations officer and oversaw much of this transformative process. Reflecting on his year-long tour, Williamson talks about overseeing in theater what became not merely a heavy truck battalion, but one comprised as well of landing craft utilities (LCUs), a logistics support vessel and a tugboat; the constant challenge that maintenance posed; his responsibilities in the areas of tracking lost and damaged vehicles; and the ever-present struggles they faced considering the 80/20 split in terms of supplies: 80 percent going to Iraq and only 20 percent available for units and personnel in Kuwait. The 24th Trans Battalion drove over 17 million miles on more than 400 convoys during its year in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, more than 170 of which were victims of some sort of enemy attack. "Every time you left the gate," Williamson said, "it was greater than a one-in-three chance that you were going to get hit." According to Williamson, the system for receiving needed repair parts and replacement vehicles was much too slow - a situation made more serious by the fact that they lost 12 HETs over their year and, of those, 10 were lost in the first two-month period. He further talks about the tactics, techniques and procedures developed for reducing risk on convoys and how they approached the all-important issue of force protection, and closes by stressing that, "No matter what branch of the Army you're in, you'd better be prepared to be an infantryman."

Share It:

Summary MARC Cover Image Additional Info

Summary Note

In this second of two interviews regarding his Global War on Terrorism experiences, Major Dan Williamson discusses his June 2006 through June 2007 deployment to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, during which he served as executive officer for the 24th Transportation Battalion - a terminal battalion that, prior to deploying strictly as a headquarters, had to be retrained as a truck battalion, prepared to fall in on heavy equipment transporter (HET) companies in Kuwait. In fact, during the predeployment phase, Williamson was the battalion's operations officer and oversaw much of this transformative process. Reflecting on his year-long tour, Williamson talks about overseeing in theater what became not merely a heavy truck battalion, but one comprised as well of landing craft utilities (LCUs), a logistics support vessel and a tugboat; the constant challenge that maintenance posed; his responsibilities in the areas of tracking lost and damaged vehicles; and the ever-present struggles they faced considering the 80/20 split in terms of supplies: 80 percent going to Iraq and only 20 percent available for units and personnel in Kuwait. The 24th Trans Battalion drove over 17 million miles on more than 400 convoys during its year in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, more than 170 of which were victims of some sort of enemy attack. "Every time you left the gate," Williamson said, "it was greater than a one-in-three chance that you were going to get hit." According to Williamson, the system for receiving needed repair parts and replacement vehicles was much too slow - a situation made more serious by the fact that they lost 12 HETs over their year and, of those, 10 were lost in the first two-month period. He further talks about the tactics, techniques and procedures developed for reducing risk on convoys and how they approached the all-important issue of force protection, and closes by stressing that, "No matter what branch of the Army you're in, you'd better be prepared to be an infantryman."

General Note

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited