Soldiers at Camp Casey are about to have a much easier time getting field gear, with a new supply point opening there this month.
The supply point will be a satellite of the 2nd Infantry Division’s main Central Issue Facility at Camp Stanley, said Dale Raffield, CIF manager for the U.S. Army Garrison-Red Cloud.
It will occupy half of the first floor of Building 2603, an aged three-story structure that once served as temporary living quarters for incoming soldiers.
New division arrivals spend five days in-processing at its Warrior Replacement Center at Stanley. During that period they’re issued gear from Stanley’s CIF.
But occasionally the facility won’t have a particular item — a pair of boots, for example — in the needed size.
The center reorders the item, and when it arrives, the soldier has to make the trip from Casey back to Stanley. A one-way bus trip could take 45 to 90 minutes depending on traffic and weather.
Add to that the waiting time they might have at the CIF, plus their lunch break and they "pretty much shot a whole day," Raffield said.
If soldiers at Casey had equipment that was worn out or needed exchange, they’d also face a Casey-Stanley round-trip. The satellite facility would eliminate that necessity, Raffield said.
Stanley’s CIF will continue to be where new arrivals get their main issue of field gear and soldiers departing the division turn it in.
Officials will set the satellite’s opening date once workers wrap up the last of the renovation.
The facility will include a waiting area with couches and a 40-inch flat-screen TV; a small customer service area; a room for picking up items that had not been available when the soldier processed in; and another room for direct exchanges.
The satellite will be open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Some 300 to 400 soldiers will probably be served there monthly, Raffield said.
