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An 18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 16th Sustainment Brigade Soldier lines up tactical military vehicles prior to a convoy Jan. 7 at the staging area across the street from the port in Bremerhaven, Germany. Soldiers from the 16th Sustainment Brigade assisted 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, with offloading the heavy brigade’s equipment from cargo ships in this North Sea port city and transporting them to the Bergen-Hohne Training Area railhead almost 100 miles inland from Jan. 6 to 18.
BREMERHAVEN, Germany — Soldiers from 16th Sustainment Brigade assisted 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, with offloading the heavy brigade’s equipment from cargo ships in the North Sea port city of Bremerhaven and transporting it to the Bergen-Hohne Training Area railhead almost 100 miles inland from January 6 to 18.
Elements from the brigade’s 18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion quartered themselves in Bremen for about a week in anticipation of receiving the first of about 4,000 Soldiers from the Iron Brigade to kick off continuous nine-month rotations of ABCTs to central and eastern Europe in support of U.S. Army Europe’s Atlantic Resolve.
“The conditions that the 16th Sustainment Brigade has set for the success of this mission extend from the headquarters to the Movement Control Team we have embedded in the Theater Movement Center,” said Maj. Gen. Duane Gamble, 21st Theater Sustainment Command commanding general. “The life support areas that enable combat power in the assembly areas are set because of the work the 16th Sust. Bde. has done from the command team down to the last squad leader.”
The first order of business for the Knights was moving the 3/4 ABCT’s approximate 2,800 pieces of equipment, including 87 tanks, 144 Bradley fighting vehicles and Paladin self-propelled howitzers, off three supercargo ships and on to Poland, where they will support the ABCT before it disburses its battalions to seven countries ranging from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
“The 18th CSSB is working the movement piece for the brigade here, helping 21st Theater Sustainment Command manage the flow of 3/4 ABCT’s equipment into the European theater,” said Lt. Col. Robb Meert, the battalion’s commanding officer, who is overseeing the movement of the vehicles from here to an inland railhead for onward movement to Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria. “We transported more than 500 pieces of equipment and vehicles about 100 miles over six days, and that was just the beginning.”
This logistical endeavor was spearheaded by U.S. Army Europe’s 21st Theater Sustainment Command, with the Knights Brigade serving a major role in the rail, line haul and military convoys that moved the vehicles, equipment and troops.
“The 16th Sustainment Brigade is serving a vital role for the readiness of the regionally allocated armored brigade rotations in Europe,” said Col. Michelle M.T. Letcher, the brigade’s commander. “We enabled the Iron Brigade to execute their speed of assembly while building combat power to maintain a dynamic security presence on the continent.”
Every morning before dawn had broken over the icy port, Sgt. James Morrison, a recovery operator with 66th Transportation Company, 18th CSSB, climbed onto his M984 recovery truck to make preventive checks and services in case the German stevedores could not start some vehicles because of the below-freezing weather.
“The job my partner and I had was helping to recover vehicles as they rolled off the ships,” said junior leader Morrison. “We worked with the German longshoremen and even though they are civilians and not military, it still feels like we’re building on our alliance.”
It was just one example of maintaining readiness that he and other 16th Sust. Bde. Soldiers performed once the vehicles and equipment rolled off the supercargo ship Resolve, the first of three ocean liners used for the movement.
To put the size of the ships into perspective, each can hold 5,000 passenger cars. The second and third ships were appropriately named Freedom and Endurance.
“The Army hasn’t moved this much equipment into a theater in a while, and it went well,” said Capt. Steven Waugh, 66th Trans. Co. commander. “Providing support to 3/4 ABCT proves my unit’s capability to deploy.”
Many of the Knights Brigade’s subordinate units also got in on the action once the equipment got to the railhead at Bergen-Hohne Training Area.
“Our team worked with allies in the U.K., Germany, Poland and the Netherlands to support moving combat power on this continent,” said Capt. Rebecca Deal, 627th Movement Control Team commander. “We provided knowledge on the ‘European flavor’ on movement within this theater and shared it with 3/4, who is gaining experience through this joint operation.”
The Fort Carson, Colorado, based unit brought M-1 Abrams tanks, M-2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, HMMWVs, tracked field artillery, logistics vehicles and other support equipment.
“There’s no way we could be doing what we’re doing here in the port all the way to the theater assembly areas in Poland without the professionals of the 16th Sustainment Brigade,” said Maj. Gen. Tim McGuire, U.S. Army Europe’s deputy commanding general.
The armored rotational brigade is making good on the U.S. commitment to the U.S. European strategic alliance.
“This was a team effort across levels of the Army to get this done,” Meert said. “It’s monumental to do a theater-opening process here in Europe, and we’re collectively figuring out the best way to do things to help the next armored BCT rotation.”
