528th Special Operations Support Battalion

by Staff Sgt. Brian Thomas

JOINT READINESS TRAINING CENTER, Fort Polk, La. (ARNEWS, July 14, 1997) -- Unsung heroes all, they carry low profiles among the company they keep here. Their mission, however, is at the forefront of any successful exercise.

Soldiers from the 528th Special Operations Support Battalion (Airborne) deployed to the Joint Readiness Training Center for three weeks recently for U.S. Army Special Operations Command rotation JRTC 97-7.

Their mission was to provide everything necessary to sustain soldiers from the 75th Ranger Regiment, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, 1st Special Forces Group, 4th Psychological Operations Group, 96th Civil Affairs Battalion and members of the Air Force special operations community.

Mission accomplished.

No shot was fired or helicopter flown without the indelible print of a 528th soldier. From food to fuel, bullets to bandages, the 528th gave the combat soldiers everything they needed to complete the mission.

"Training Center deployments are the Super Bowl," said Lt. Col. Albert Ballard, commander of the 528th. "You have deployments during the year that are ball games, but going to the Training Center is the Super Bowl.

"This is the biggest thing we'll do and we know that. This has been our goal this year -- to get here and be able to support these units."

Along with several attached units, the 528th's battalion staff, Headquarters and Support Company and Forward Support Company B provided a myriad of support services for the Joint Special Operations Task Force at JRTC's Initial Staging Base.

"The 528th's mission is to support special operations (forces)," Ballard said. "We are a tailored organization. Although we have some of the same types of units as other support battalions, we're set up specifically for SOF."

Forward Support Company B is one of the battalion's two multi-purpose support companies. At JRTC there was little that 1st Sgt. Terrence Heyward's soldiers didn't supply.

"Our personnel are pretty motivated," Heyward said. "Here they get the opportunity to see what we would be doing in a real-world situation. They see the personnel that we would be supporting face to face.

"By interacting with them, we get a better idea of how to support those people."

Company B provided nearly all classes of supplies, as well maintenance and transportation.

"This is one of the major exercises that we support, and one that we look forward to because it is one of the most challenging," Heyward said. "For an exercise of this magnitude we use the whole company to provide support.

"This has been a good, high-profile exercise for us because we use a lot of real-world techniques in order to support our customers."

One of the biggest challenges Heyward's soldiers have met is the "hot" refueling operation on the airfield's flight line. Helicopters from the 160th SOAR (A) return to the airfield for refueling. Without shutting down, the helicopters touch down long enough to get a full tank of gas and return to the mission.

"One of the things I'm the proudest of is the hot refueling we do for the 160th SOAR (A)," Ballard said. "We've done this before for them and been very successful, but we did it out of tankers -- we did not set up the bags and the berms we have here.

"That was another element we wanted to add into this, and we've done it quite successfully."

Using bags and berms instead of tanker trucks adds more margin for error, Ballard said, but his soldiers have handled the challenge admirably. Sgt. Frank DiCarlo, a squad leader at the refueling point, said all safety and environmental considerations are taken at the sight.

The job also has it's thrills.

"It's a rush because you've got the propellers going and there's a lot of excitement -- it gets your adrenaline up," DiCarlo said. "This is the first time we've got to use a system like this, and it's working very well."

The 528th's Headquarters and Support Company has an equally large role, including the feeding of more than 3,000 task force soldiers.

"This is one of the toughest missions that we support throughout the whole year," said Staff Sgt. Angel M. Padilla, food service sergeant. "Our satisfaction comes from knowing that we can do the job and get it done in a professional manner.

"Just knowing the number of people we're supporting here makes it rewarding."

While most of the soldiers who deploy to JRTC are concerned about securing the independence of the notional country of Cortina, support soldiers do their work in the real world -- in a scenario that differs little from their wartime mission.

"We train as we go to war," said Capt. Michael E. Knox, company commander of the Headquarters and Support Company. "When we feed soldiers and provide medical care, it's not very different."

The value of deploying to JRTC is clear, said Staff Sgt. Justin Howell, the transportation platoon sergeant in Company B.

"It's important we train our soldiers so when it comes time for war it becomes a battle drill," Howell said. "They know how to do it safely, and that will minimize the loss of life."

The 528th's success at JRTC and in the future, Ballard said, is due to one thing -- outstanding soldiers.

"I am absolutely convinced that the strength we have is in sergeants and soldiers who will not let us fail," he said. "Our obligation is to come up with the best plan so that we don't waste their time.

"We have the very best soldiers that I have ever had the pleasure of working with, and they don't ever let us fail."

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(Editor's note: Thomas is with the USASOC Public Affairs Office.)