Support detachment brings comforts of home to troops at Cobra Gold
By Rick Chernitzer,
Stars and Stripes
Rick Chernitzer / Stars and Stripes
Pfc. Andrew Koch, 19, a cook with Combat Services Support Detachment 79 serves up a
cooked-to-order omlette Tuesday at the Camp Samaesan, Thailand, galley. |
CAMP SAMAESAN, Thailand — There’s nothing like coming home from a day in the
hellish heat of Thailand, propping your feet up, sitting back and watching a little
satellite television.
In years past that wasn’t possible at this Royal Thai marine camp. But with Cobra
Gold 2001, under way throughout Thailand, Americana infused with the hum of generators and
the gritty bite of diesel fumes reminds you a military operation is afoot.
The folks to thank are Combat Services Support Detachment 79 (CSSD79).
"Often overlooked and under-appreciated," said Marine Maj. Michael Stover,
the support detachment’s commanding officer. "I like to think of us as one of
three legs on a tripod. There’s the air combat services, and the ground combat
services, and then there’s us."
CSSD79 takes pride in providing the necessary infrastructure for a successful military
operation: reliable electricity, potable water, sufficient transportation, adequate
medical care and cranes and riggers to help with construction for the exercise, as well as
moving heavy equipment.
But there are several creature comforts here that would amaze older Cobra Gold vets:
satellite television, laundry service and a chow hall with made-to-order omelets.
"This is nothing like what we had the first time I ever deployed for an
exercise," said Staff Sgt. Louis Reese, 28, one of the noncommissioned officers in
charge of the camp galley, which dishes out about 2,400 meals a day.
"We had all this old equipment, and everything was pre-packaged, frozen, and it
was awful. But, look around here," he offered, his arm outstretched as the early
morning throng of hungry Marines and sailors shuffled by, "this chow hall is not that
much different from one in the States."
Sgt. Chad Hentzel, 23, a mechanic with the Materiel Readiness Battalion from Okinawa,
lauded the food.
"I was expecting to see the same kinds of food you find when you’re out with
the MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit): fish, rice and chicken. But they seem to have
different stuff every day. A lot of chow halls also tend to try reheating and reusing food
they couldn’t get rid of the day before, but I haven’t seen any leftovers
yet."
With occasional hoots and hollers coming from servicemembers watching pro wrestling on
televisions that are on opposite ends of the dining hall, Reese says it’s important
for them to forget for a few minutes where they are.
"Food is a morale booster," he said. "There’s no reason we
can’t make this place feel closer to home."
The support detachment also set up field showers and laundry units. The showers
don’t look all that much different from the ones on the TV show "M*A*S*H,"
except portable hot water heaters make getting hot water not much of a problem, according
to some who’ve used the showers.
"They’re pretty nice for field showers," said Lance Cpl. Robert Simila,
23, a network administrator for 3rd Marine Division from Okinawa. "That is, as nice
as a field shower can be."
A stone’s throw are the field laundry units.
Hygiene equipment operator Michael Stelman is proud of his units and how well they
work.
"I can do 60 pounds of laundry at a time," the 20-year-old lance corporal
proudly proclaimed. "And that’s really a slow day for me."
Stelman is assisted by a camouflaged green-and-black dryer with a super centrifuge.
"It rotates at about 12 g’s. It’s like a super-powered spin cycle,"
he explained. Five more minutes of drying, he said, and the clothes are done.
Setting up for life in the field isn’t easy. Behind it all is Stover and his
staff.
About 370 people comprise CSSD79: Combat Service Support Group 3 from Hawaii; the 3rd
Force Service Support Group; the 3rd Medical Battalion; and the 9th Engineer Support
Battalion from Okinawa, a detachment from the Headquarters Battalion from Marine Corps
Base Hawaii; and 23 Marines from Combat Services Support Detachment 35, which participated
in Balikatan in the Philippines.
Three civilians — two safety managers attached to Marine Corps Base Hawaii and a
representative of the Defense Logistics Agency Pacific — are participating, too.
"We were geographically separated for the planning, so we had to deal with
personnel and equipment issues with lots of phone calls and e-mails," Stover said.
"The benefits of the training we did here are significant. Because I got my staff
to analyze everything from the start, they were extremely accurate. They did very
well."
Simila appreciated CSSD79’s work from the moment he arrived.
"The air conditioning works, and that’s all I care about," he said with
a laugh. "But not just for us. My equipment, my computer systems, need cooling.
That’s especially true with the heat over here."
"I just plugged my stuff in and there was the power," said Cpl. Jeffery
Scullark, 21, another network administrator from the 3rd Marines. "They knew we
needed it and just knocked it out."
Back to May stories
Page Two news roundup
Stories from April, 2001
Stories from March, 2001
Stories from February,2001
Stories from January, 2001
Stories from December, 2000
Stories from November, 2000
Stories from October, 2000
Stories from August and September, 2000
Stories from June and July, 2000
Home |
