Surface shipments sustain troops in Afghanistan.

MTMC's surface transportation movements to Southwest Asia by railroad and road cross thousands of miles of land and some of the most forbidding territory in the world.

Some shipments travel by ocean carrier to Bremerhaven, Germany, and follow a multi-week journey by railroad to Uzbekistan. Other shipments arrive at Pakistani ports and move by truck to American troop destinations in the region. Even to MTMC transportation planners, the movements are obscured by time zones, unfamiliar languages, rugged terrain and howling blizzards.

A unique view of the MTMC supply chain movements is provided by Maj. David Cintron, the former Executive Officer of the 832nd Transportation Battalion, Fort Buchanan. Puerto Rico, from January 1998 to July 2000. Cintron now serves as Team Chief of the 164th Transportation Contract Supervision Detachment, located at Karshi Khanabad (nicknamed K2 by American troops) Airbase.

When MTMC surface shipments reach destinations in Uzbekistan and Karshi Khanabad by rail, road or aircraft, contracted private trucks managed by Cintron's unit redistributes the supplies to American and allied troops in Afghanistan, completing the supply chain.

"We move tons of supplies," said Cintron. "What started as a means of relieving pressure on the overburdened airframes has turned into a major transportation endeavor, totaling nearly 700 truck movements. The use of civilian trucks has freed the airframes, allowing them to move high priority, sensitive and perishable cargo.

"Continued work with the contracting officer, customers and our contracted transportation companions will enable us to keep on moving much-needed cargo. We will continue to expand our capabilities to ensure mission accomplishment."

Primarily, the sustainment supplies are shipped to Mazar-E-Shariff, Bagram, and occasionally, Kandahar, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Cintron's contract detachment works with the 507th Logistics Task Force. Among other duties, the soldiers order vehicles, coordinate passes, document cargo, escort trucks and assist customers.

Surface transportation in Afghanistan began Dec. 26, when contract trucks moved sustainment supplies from Karshi Khanabad to Mazar-E-Shariff. The team contracted for local 20-ton Super Kamas trucks for their size and capacity.

"The road network through Uzbekistan and the northern portion of Afghanistan is good enough to support that type of vehicle," said Cintron. "We did not encounter any limiting factors, like bad road surface conditions or bridge limitations, throughout the 400-kilometer route."

The wintertime road movements were a quick orientation for Cintron's soldiers. At times, the route climbs to an elevation of 6,000 feet. Snowdrifts have blocked tunnel entrances and covered roads.

"The weather only delayed three movements due to impassable roads," said Cintron. "We managed a total of 38 vehicle movements in support of troops stationed in Mazar-E-Shariff in our first month."

"With sustainment supplies moving to Mazar-E-Shariff, Cintron's team began planning for surface shipments to Bagram. Shipments were already moving on the first 400 kilometers of highway; it was the last 450 kilometers that proved to be the challenge.

"We looked at the tunnels, bridges, road conditions and weather throughout the second portion of the route, and especially through the Salang Pass, which reaches heights of 14,000 feet," said Cintron. "From this information, we worked with two trucking companies with the assets we needed to move the cargo. We knew that the road, tunnel and bridge damage due to years of fighting and the weather posed big challenges."

The transporters found that large, heavy trucks would not be able to perform the mission because of limited bridge capacity on the route.

"We settled on the 10-ton Kamas trucks, which are easily found in the region and can carry a good payload," said Cintron. "It was then that we decided to send two trucks on the route Jan. 29 to test the conditions.

"The first run turned out better than we could have imagined. The two trucks were down in Bagram in 40 hours. They had no problems crossing the Friendship Bridge, and stayed one step ahead of a blizzard."

With the road movement a success, the transporters sent a second convoy of 10 trucks. As of mid-April, the team has sent 600 contracted truck moves to Bagram, carrying approximately 4,200 short tons of cargo.

The truck run of 850 kilometers takes an average of seven days.

"We've also encountered numerous obstacles along the way--delayed bridge crossings, avalanches, flooded tunnels, one-way traffic alternating daily, administrative delays," said Cintron. "However, we continue to move forward."

The next big expansion of the supply chain will be to Kandahar, said Cintron.

"Honestly, that's been the toughest to crack," said Cintron. "The distance of 1,500 kilometers over some of the worst roads in the world makes it undesirable. We've tried approaching Kandahar from the east and the west.

"The only real success we had was a twelve-day transit over the Salang Pass, through Kabul and into Kandahar. Our first attempt from the west proved difficult--due to almost non-existent roads on parts of the route.

Thankfully, the volume of cargo has been light, and we've only had to send out five trucks."

Cintron credits the success of his teams to 1st Lt. Emilio Rodriguez and a cadre of veteran noncommissioned officers: Sgt. 1st Class Johnny Blackett, Sgt. Tamara Dennis, Staff Sgt. Christopher Fromm, Sgt. Philip Ajoko, and Spc. Christopher Delzell.

Additional support has come from Maj. Marvin Jennings, the contracting officer of the Coalition Forces Land Component Command.

"They ensured that the trucks were on time and documentation was accurate," said Cintron.