By Angela Hatton
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-889359.mp3
Fort Campbell, KY – Officials at Fort Campbell say that every day since 9/11, a member of the 101st "Lifeliners" Sustainment Brigade has been engaged in the theater of war. The Lifeliners stationed at Fort Campbell are the support network for the troops who go into combat. They bring in medical supplies, clear roads, and make sure everyone has clean water and extra ammo. But even Lifeliners need to be ready to fight if they have to. Angela Hatton visited Fort Campbell, where the brigade is getting ready for a fall deployment.
Heading to the ranges, deep inside Fort Campbell, you can almost imagine you're headed through a National Forest with thick woods on every side. The bus bounces over a bridge above a small river. But look out the window and you'll see signs bordering the tree line every hundred feet: "DANGER unexploded duds, keep out."
Before their deployment soldiers practice combat techniques on these ranges. Teams from the Lifeliners brigade are learning how to clear rooms in a shoot house. The structure looks like a plywood maze, with observation decks zigzagged over the top. A drill sergeant yells out instructions to four soldiers in full gear.
" Guys, you're doing good up to this point. Remember to sound off those commands loud. Room clear. Status: one up, two up, three up, four up! Team leader's really barking out commands "stack on me!" because we're going from one room to the next, it's happened really quick. OK, we've killed a bad guy here. Good to go!'
Clear!'
Room clear.'
Status?'
One up.'
Two up.'
Three up.'
Four up.'
Stack on me.' "
Unlike some other brigades which deploy as a unit, at least some of the Lifeliners are always in the field. Over six hundred of the more than four thousand 101st Lifeliners are deployed now, but with their fifth major deployment coming up in late fall Brigade Commander Colonel Mike Peterman says they want all their soldiers to be ready. For anything.
"I mean we're a logistics organization. That's what we do for the customers who are out there. So regardless of we're at Fort Campbell, or Afghanistan, or Iraq we're insuring that the mail gets through. We insure that, y'know, folks have pay. We insure that, y'know, if the truck's broken or needs recovery, every bullet that you shoot you name it."
"Sergeant Nicholas Delosreyes. I'm a 88 hotel cargo specialist. It's a transporter. Been in the army for, August will make six years, and currently working at brigade."
Teams are done in the shoot house and Delosreyes holds his gun toward the ground. He's taking a break before practice on the firing range. He has been to Afghanistan before. This will be his third deployment, and he says he's looking forward to going back.
"Uh, it's not typically what we're used to doing on a day to day basis, but this is what we train for. Anything can happen."
Delosreyes joins the troops in front of the targets. They're practicing reflexive fire, which focuses more on response time than it does on accuracy.
Training will become more intense in the coming months and just before deployment, soldiers will also get language and culture lessons.
The Lifeliners plan to spend part of their time training Afghanis to do sustainment work. Colonel Peterman says in the last few years, the Afghan military and police have grown substantially. What's lagging, he says, is support.
"So we, in our endeavor in the next eighteen months we'll carry on what everybody else has done, and we're going to help grow that capacity, so in the end they can sustain themselves, take care of the Afghan people. And then we'll potentially not have to go back to Afghanistan for the fourth and fifth time."
Peterman recognizes that the constant deployment wears on them, and says commanders try to give each soldier a break before the next ship-out. He projects confidence in his brigade, pointing to recent awards won for efficiency and quality of work. Peterman says the constant training is key in making the Lifeliners always ready to go, anywhere they're needed.