SDDC, 7th Transportation Group: Fort Eustis units team up in Philadelphia equipment discharge.

Two Fort Eustis, Va., organizations have teamed up to conduct a four-week long Operation Iraqi Freedom II equipment discharge.

Soldiers and civilians from the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command and the 7th Transportation Group began work May 21 at the port of Philadelphia.

The team includes 16 Soldiers from the 491st Automated Cargo Documentation Detachment, a unit of the 7th Transportation Group.

Overseeing the mission is the Army Reserve's 1192nd Transportation Terminal Brigade, of New Orleans, La.

The 956th Transportation Co., Fort Momnouth, N.J., is managing the port.

By the latter part of June, the transporters are expected to move nearly 2,000 pieces of cargo totaling more than 316,000-square feet.

The work for the Fort Eustis transporters began within hours of their arrival at the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal on the Delaware River, said 1st Lt. Adam DeVore, 491st commander.

The team worked into the night to discharge and stage 373 pieces of cargo from the Motor Vessel Cape Douglas, a Roll-on/Roll-off ship of the Navy's Military Sealift Command. The remaining 181 pieces were unloaded the next morning.

"We're looking at a really good throughput in a little under 12 hours," said Maj. Raymond Dickerson, 1192nd officer-in charge of military operations at the port. "The Soldiers were enthusiastic and really took charge of terminal operations and onward movement."

Over the next few days, the cargo was loaded onto trucks and railcars bound for their final destinations.

The MV Cape Douglas carried more than 105,000-square feet of cargo bound for 12 installations, with one-third of the pieces designated for Fort Eustis, Va., and Fort Stewart, Ga.

Teamwork displayed on the mission is an example of the mutually beneficial relationship that exists between SDDC and the 7th Transportation Group at Fort Eustis, said Col. Robert Askey, SDDC's director of plans, readiness and mobilization.

The SDDC is structured to conduct smaller peacetime operations and relies heavily on the Reserves during contingencies, said Askey.

"Now that we're moving divisions on a regular basis and all the sustainment that goes with them," he said, "we need more capabilities. The 7th Group fits that bill nicely, and this provides them with training opportunities they don't normally get."

What's important for the 491st is that the mission "trains flexibility," said DeVore.

"This is an opportunity to work inbound and outbound cargo simultaneously, so Soldiers will see a large volume of cargo moving in both directions," he said. "It's also a chance to work rail operations--which this detachment doesn't get to do very often."

The 7th Transportation Group often uses organic assets for stevedoring, truck driving, rail loading and crane operations, said DeVote. The operation in Philadelphia allows the 491st to work with commercial partners who are performing those and other functions.

"Training here helps prepare us to work with contracted services in a theater of operations," said DeVore. "One encounters similar issues of timing, coordination and communication that must be resolved in order to accomplish the mission."

Cross-training Soldiers in all aspects of port operations will lead to more efficient port operations for SDDC in the future, he said.

"By making them capable of single port operations, units will be able to move from port-to-port to conduct a variety of missions, so (the Department of Defense) will have more options for future contingencies," said DeVote.

This deployment comes at a busy time for the 491st.

The detachment redeployed from Kuwait in November, participated in the month-long "New Horizons" exercise in Honduras in the spring and conducted a change of command in April.

Before going to Philadelphia, the unit supported a Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore exercise at Fort Story, Va.

"We finished Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore 04 on May 19, reset on May 20, were on the road by 3 a.m., on May 21, and began operations that evening in Philadelphia--all in the span of 36 hours," said DeVore.

The future holds even more exercises and technical training on new systems for the 491st, he said.

Soldiers in the detachment, like Sgt. Anthony Torres, seem to enjoy the high operations tempo as well as the chance to brush up on old skills and learn new ones.

"That's what I like about transportation," said the transportation management coordinator. "Soldiers in other (military occupational specialties) do the same thing over and over, but we get to work with vessels, trucks, rail and airplanes. So, it's something different all the time."

In the past six months, 7th Group units have assisted with SDDC operations at ports in Jacksonville, Fla.; Charleston, S.C.; and Wilmington, N.C.

"It's a mutually beneficial relationship," Askey said. "I expect that we will continue to work closely with 7th Group in the future."

Patti Bielling, Public Affairs Specialist SDDC Operations Center