With two weeks until the first scheduled operator's training in February, the Mobility Support Platoon from the 18th Engineer Company discovered that the engineer dig pit in Training Area 4 would be unavailable for the entirety of the month of February.

This was unsettling due to the four scheduled training events for the platoon on that land during the month. The training in February was supposed to cover the finishing steps of earthmoving fundamentals while moving on to more advanced techniques in preparation for future platoon and company training events.

It was at this point that it became necessary to reach out to other sources to conduct the required operator's training on the platoon's organic dig equipment.

On Jan. 26, the MS platoon leader, 1st Lt. Jedidiah Nowak, met with Rich Gillespie from the Environmental Division of the Department of Public Works at the Borrow Pit south of Gray Army Airfield off of Eastgate Road.  During this meeting, it was determined that Gillespie had some earthwork that needed to be completed that would provide a training opportunity for the Soldiers of MS Platoon.

From this meeting, a mutually beneficial relationship was born between MS/18th EN Co. and the Environmental Division of DPW.  This relationship would provide land and work for MS Platoon to conduct training while working toward "borrow source reclamation," as Gillespie referred to the work on the GAAF Borrow Pit. MS Platoon is providing the labor and assets to DPW, which DPW cannot provide on their own at this time, while gaining valuable operator experience on the MS Platoon organic equipment.

The training conducted not only benefits the Soldiers of MS Platoon, but also proves to meet the regulatory requirements for borrow source reclamation while making the different working sites into usable land for DPW at the GAAF Borrow Pit.

Following a Leader's Reconnaissance and Site Layout Plan on Feb. 1, Mobility Support Platoon began work on Feb. 2 at Site 1 of the Gray Army Airfield Borrow Pit project utilizing DEUCEs and HMEE1s.  Following two training days on site, Gillespie made an on-site visit with the Soldiers and leaders from MS Platoon. As Site 1 neared completion, a site walk-through was completed on Site 2, which will be tied into Site 1 after both areas are complete. It was at this time that discussions began for possible follow-on training opportunities at other DPW Borrow Pits in the near future.

The training has been valuable to Soldiers because this type of project is very similar to missions that MS Platoon was tasked with for on the forward operating base in the most recent deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  In addition to basic earthmoving operations, Mobility Support Platoon has also conducted a variety of training on the GAAF Borrow Pit Sites during operations.  

While leaders are training on how to set-up and run a dig site, Soldiers have been learning about basic clearing and grubbing operations, spoil management and movement, and basic trail and roadway emplacement. In addition to basic operator's tasks conducted during the project, Mobility Support Platoon is using the available land to continue tactical aspects of their specific job.  Most recently, training was conducted concurrently on obstacle emplacement by utilizing the pneumatic picket pounder on the HMEE1.  Tactical operations will continue to be tied-in to the borrow source reclamation at the GAAF Borrow Pit.  Planned concurrent training includes obstacle emplacement, usage of the HMEE1 attachments, and construction of an expedient landing zone.