FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq — Thanks to the intuitive efforts of a team of Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers, combat vehicles undergo a few structural changes while deployed to Forward Operating Base Falcon in Baghdad’s Rashid district.

Soldiers of Company B, 4th Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, are often faced with the demands of fixing many types of combat vehicles without an excess of available parts or the manufacturer’s training manual.

“In our fabrication shop, it is always quicker to manufacture an item, which can get done in a day or so compared to ordering items from the states, which may take from one week to six months to get here,” said Chief Warrant Officer Mark Davis, brigade allied trades technician assigned to Co. B “Maddawgs,” 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div.

It is important to have a quick turnaround when vehicles break down because they are used every day by Soldiers securing the 1st “Raider” Brigade operating environment, said Davis, who hails from Wilburton, Okla.

“The Soldiers need to be able to utilize as many vehicles as necessary to minimize attacks against us and our allies,” Davis explained. “If our presence is perceived as being lax, there may be a spike in activity which could show us as being weak. We don’t want that.”

The Support and Recovery Section of Co. B fabricates replacement parts on armored vehicles, such as the Mine Resistant and Ambush Protected family of vehicles and humvees, said Davis.

The rear steps on one model of MRAP vehicle present a reoccurring problem, said Spc. Thomas Beaty, a wheeled-vehicle mechanic assigned to Maddawg Co. The ramps often break because the length of the vehicle causes the rear end to hit the ground while crossing a deep rut.

A collaborative effort between a small team of Soldiers and a Field Service Representative, which is typically an engineer or mechanic sent by the manufacturer of each vehicle, determines the method of repair when faced with either a broken part or manufacturing defect, said Davis.

Other improvements and repairs include door handles on humvees and the sway bar on the MRAP vehicles, an anti-roll device that stabilizes the vehicle during cornering.

“The (noncommissioned officers) and Soldiers work with each other to solve any problems,” said Beaty, a native of Moreno Valley, Calif. “There is a lot of mechanical knowledge between all the Soldiers.”
The FSRs are also very knowledgeable and a big help when addressing technical aspects of the vehicles, said Beaty, who worked on farm and marine equipment before enlisting into the U.S. Army.

“My job is great,” Beaty stated. “I fix the vehicles, which keep the Soldiers on mission safer.”

“The FSRs, welders and I look at a problem and work out the best way to fix or upgrade the part to bring the vehicle back to its fully mission capable status,” Davis added.

The Soldiers of Co. B, 4th Supt. Bn., 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div., are currently serving a 15-month deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.