DVIDS – News – Army Reserve 390th Engineer Company latest unit to participate in Earthworks Troops Project at Fort McCoy

Combat engineers from the Army Reserve’s 390th Engineer Company (Vertical) have become the latest Army engineer unit to work on an ongoing troop building project just outside the fence from the cantonment area to Fort McCoy.

Project work is in an area of ​​land near the old Gate 20 and Liberty Enhanced Tactical Training Base and cantonment area fence, said Troop Projects Coordinator Larry Morrow of the Fort McCoy Department of Public Works (DPW).

The site plan is to make it a base operations support site for facility service contractors, such as facility maintenance, roads and grounds, solid waste, custodial, pest control , etc., Morrow said.

Soldiers from the 390th helped raze parts of the project area to give unit members heavy equipment training, and more.

The work on this project, as well as others by the 390th, is important for unit Soldiers to be able to meet training needs.

“Working on this project…also provided us with the opportunity to accomplish one of our mission-critical tasks that we are required to train on each year,” said 2nd Lt. Donovan McCaskill, officer of the 390th engineers, based in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Fort McCoy DPW Operations and Maintenance Division Chief Nate Sobojinski said in 2021 when the project began that DPW consolidated all of its service contractors into one location near commercial access. to prevent vendors from having to travel to bring supplies to various locations.

Sobojinski also said that while the Post develops this site for contractors, much of the material on the site may be taken from the site in the future for other projects.

“We will have plenty of material to use the site as a loan fill site,” Sobojinski said. “This site allows easy access for work in the North Post range and other project areas.”

In 2022, the 390th is the second unit to complete earthmoving operations at the site. In June, combat engineers from the Wisconsin National Guard’s 157th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade completed major work at the site after other units began the project in 2021.

For July work, the 390th Combat Engineers used the Army T-9/D7R bulldozer. According to its spec sheet, this model is a medium drawbar diesel engine crawler tractor with a dozer blade. The bulldozer offers cutting, travel and finish grading capabilities to support various construction tasks, such as building and maintaining roads, airfields and shelters.

Morrow said work at the site initially consisted primarily of removing organic material, such as tree stumps and vegetation. Now more of the site is continually being developed as each unit comes to complete work.

Morrow said the 390th Operators completed work at the site for three days moving fill earth from areas of the site.

“Work will continue throughout the area,” Morrow said. “And again, we really appreciate having units come in to help with projects like this.”

Morrow also said getting these projects done was very important.

“If we didn’t have these plans, many troops wouldn’t be getting the training they need, and the post wouldn’t be benefiting from the work they’re doing to improve the training lines and quality of life programs of Fort McCoy,” he said. .

McCaskill said his team was happy to be able to train while supporting a troop project for his heavy equipment troops.

“The only military occupational specialty within our platoon is 12Ns – our heavy equipment operators – and we don’t have enough time to practice on everything,” McCaskill said. “But in a two-week exercise like this, where we can run our heavy equipment, it helps us become proficient in our warrior duties and our engineering duties.”

Fort McCoy’s motto is “Total Force Training Center”. Located in the heart of the Upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only US Army installation in Wisconsin.

The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 service members of all services nearly every year since 1984.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on the Defense Visual Information Distribution System at https://www.dvidshub.net/fmpao, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy” and on Twitter by searching for “usagmccoy”.

Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app on your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another facility as your preferred base.