Getting the gear out of the rear.

(Editor's note: This story was filed prior to the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. Frank Pellegrini was a member of the 361st Press Camp Headquarters and mobilized to support Public Affairs missions in the U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility.)

When the Army's ship comes in, Mobile, Ala., reservists are there to help reunite fighting forces in the Gulf with everything they need to get the job done.

A visitor to the offloading of Army equipment at a port in Kuwait recently was greeted with a strange sight. Members of the 101st Airborne, black hearts sewn on their Kevlars and M-16s at their sides, were lolling about on the pavement, catching some rays under the bright afternoon sun and killing nothing but time. The 101st is among America's elite fighting forces and one of the heaviest hammers that the U.S. will bring down on Saddam Hussein and his regime should the order to invade Iraq be given. But today they were powerless, immobilized and idle, until they could be reunited with the Humvees, heavy trucks, Blackhawk helicopters and other equipment that are their lifeblood in the field.

Thanks to 66 members of the 1184th Transportation Terminal Battalion, Army Reserve soldiers out of Mobile, Ala., it won't be a long wait. Since arriving "down range" Nov. 12, the unit that hails from one of America's busiest seaports has brought their hometown's stevedore spirit from the Gulf of Mexico to the Persian Gulf. The mission: to make sure the countless tons of equipment arriving here gets off the ships and into the hands of those who need it as safely, securely--and quickly--as possible. And in four months on the ground, the unit whose motto is "doing it right" has amassed quite a record, helping the U.S. military move more necessary cargo through this port for this effort than it moved through two ports in the last Gulf War.

"Since we've been here, we've offloaded 28 ships, which is maybe 40,000 pieces of cargo taking up over 2 million square feet of space," said Col. Janet Cobb, commander of the 1184th. "In the last 22 hours alone, since this last ship came in, we've moved 731 pieces. That's a lot of stuff. But we've got a really good, experienced team--15 of my folks, including myself, were over here for Desert Storm, doing the same work--and we've been able to get it all off-loaded, accounted for and positioned for pick-up in a hurry. And that's what we're here to do."

The 1184th was the last Army Reserve unit to come home from the Gulf in 1991, and this time around it was one of the first called. Members are on one-year orders, and like most others here don't know when they'll be headed back home. But while they're here, Cobb said, her people are working hard, holding the occasional down-home-style barbecue when the shipping schedule allows a little downtime, and taking pride in being such a vital--if unsung--part of their country's and its allies' preparations for war.

Spc. Richard Abercrombie, who today is directing traffic coming off the ship, was a preschool photographer before his country called, and for him one of the hardest parts of this deployment has been culture shock. "We've been tipped away from our jobs and our homes, had to go from that to being here--and being a southern boy, the redneck-meets-Middle East thing has been pretty strange." But when he needs some motivation, he has only to think of 9/11--his company, LifeTech, had offices in the World Trade Center, and he shudders to think of having to explain the terrorist attacks to preschoolers living near there--and of the dangers that those he's supporting here face on a daily basis.

"Sometimes I feel like a glorified parking-lot attendant, making sure all this stuff gets put in the right place so we can get it out of here fast," he says. "Compare my position to the guys in the 101st. Imagine what they have to go through every day. Those two helicopter crashes not too long ago--soldiers died, and here we are off-loading Blackhawks. So when you hear about something like that, it hits pretty close to home."

"That's why they call us support--we're here to make sure everybody gets what they need, and then we run and hide," he says, smiling. "But it helps to remember that without us doing our job, they can't do theirs."

Maj. Dan Arzonico is a software developer in his civilian life, and he doesn't mind telling you he "took a pretty big pay cut" to be deployed to Kuwait. But he said he's got three reasons he wants to go back to Mobile--his daughters Emily, 11, and Amy, 5, and his wife Nancy, who heads up the unit's Family Readiness Program at home--and just one for being here: "that flag you see flying on the ships that come in here." Arzonico is a vessel officer with the 1184th, but for this mission he's been tasked with supporting the support, working for the overseeing 598th Transportation Terminal Group managing force protection at the pier and off-loading area. Arzonico works with all the elements that come together at a port like this, from the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard to the Kuwaiti locals, making sure the soldiers in his unit--and the cargo they're off-loading--can do their job in safety. "My job now is to keep the threat that's out there on the street"--he waves a hand inland--"from getting to us here," he says. And he knows the importance of keeping this port up and running.

"This place is at the cutting edge. If we go to war, I'll look at the forces that are out there fighting and I'll know they came through us," Arzonico says. "Our unit helped them get their equipment and get out there. It makes me feel proud."

Sgt. Melvin Polk was a full-time Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) administrative clerk with the 1184th back home, but there isn't much use for paperwork here. So he's out with his fellow off-loaders, using one of the Army's newly adopted Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) scanners to record each UPS-labeled "piece"--from Humvees to 5-tons to monstrous Heavy Equipment Transport vehicles with more wheels than a NASCAR Top 10--as it rolls by. "It's not my specialty, but if we have to do this and go to war I'll do whatever I can to help out," he says.

"These handheld scanners are just like the ones at Wal-Mart--they make it easier, and keep the line moving fast, which is what it's all about." After four months Polk, like everybody else in the unit, is starting to really miss Mobile. "It's been good being here, really getting to know the people I drill with, but I'm ready to go home and see my parents again," he says. "But we're not through yet," Polk says. "Look at the 101st--they're just getting here, getting set up with their equipment, getting ready to go do the fighting if it comes to that. It's their stuff--we just get it off the ship and get it to them. But it feels great to know that with everything going on these days and with so much at stake, I'm here helping out the best we've got."