Clyde Kimber, an employee of the U.S. Army’s Combat Equipment Battalion-Hythe at RAF Hythe, England, paints a repaired generator ready for shipment to Iraq for use by troops. (Ron Jensen / S&S)
HYTHE, England — Generators that supply power to troops in Iraq are being repaired, refurbished and repainted at a little-known Army base on England’s south coast.
Members of the Combat Equipment Battalion-Hythe at RAF Hythe have added the task to their normal mission of maintaining the Army’s fleet of watercraft.
“It’s really totally new to us,” said Sam Lawson, the project manager, during an interview with Stars and Stripes in the renovated flying boat hangar that contains his shop.
He said the first generators arrived Dec. 8 and now can be returned to Iraq. More are waiting for repair and more are in the pipeline.
“We just basically said, ‘Look at all this maintenance ability we have. What else can we do for the Army?’ ” said Lt. Col. Martin Binder, battalion commander.
He was speaking with Stars and Stripes by telephone from Afghanistan, where he and a team from RAF Hythe are making preparations to add armor to vehicles for the Southern European Task Force from Vicenza, Italy, which soon will arrive in Afghanistan.
Chris Gill, the battalion’s plans and operations officer, said the Army moved to the base near Southhampton in 1967 when American forces were booted out of France by Charles de Gaulle.
“It slowly evolved from a storage base to a maintenance base,” he said.
The Combat Equipment Battalion-Hythe is responsible for two far-flung locations where the Army bases watercraft. Yokohama North Dock in Japan and Kuwait Naval Base in Kuwait both have more than 30 boats, including landing craft and tugs.
When those boats need repair or renovation, the work is done at RAF Hythe, where two American soldiers — Binder and Chief Warrant Officer 5 Cassandra Young — one American civilian and 200 British employees are on duty.
Employed at the base are welders, riggers, shipwrights, electricians and anyone else who might be handy when the job is to repair or renovate vessels capable of carrying tanks or trucks.
“We are the only watercraft repair facility the Army’s got,” Gill said.
The battalion is part of the Army Materiel Command and is directly commanded by the Army Field Support Brigade-Europe at Seckenheim, Germany.
Other battalions maintain equipment at Bettembourg, Luxembourg, and Livorno, Italy.
There is none of the usual American support for Binder, Young and Tom Ferguson, a retired warrant officer and the civilian executive assistant. Ferguson said the nearest American facilities are at RAF Fairford, about 85 miles away.
But the mission is unique, which makes up for any hardships, he said. The base was busy maintaining the boats, but the additional task of the generators really keeps the place hopping. Lawson said, however, no one is complaining about the new duty.
“It is important for the guys on the ground, the soldiers, to have reliable equipment,” he said. “That’s what it’s about at the end of the day.”
