CAMP RAVENNA JOINT MILITARY TRAINING CENTER, Ohio — Water is essential. This year at annual training, the mission to provide water is entrusted to three specialists who are proving their worth, one water buffalo at a time.
The team's mission is to provide clean, sanitized cold water to keep the troops hydrated, said Spc. Max Plouck of Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 174th Air Defense Artillery Brigade. Plouck is a mission veteran, having conducted it during last year's annual training as well.
"This mission is important because a lot of people can get sick if you don't know what you're doing," Plouck said. "I got to work with two highly-motivated specialists that know their stuff, and we got to work with minimal supervision."
Spcs. Claire Schweitzer and Donovan Konoff, both assigned to the rear detachment of 1st Battalion, 174th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, went to a field sanitation course at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus, Ohio, to prepare for the annual training mission. They add bleach to the water buffalos—large, metal water tank trailers—to sanitize them, but before the water is ready to drink, they ensure there is only one-one millionth part bleach in the water.
"You add six tablespoons of bleach and measure the water twice," Schweitzer said.
Success for this team means their mission is ahead of schedule and there are no complaints, Plouck said.
"From the minute we started we were ahead of schedule," Plouck said, saying Schweitzer and Konoff would make a voluntary additional run after chow to keep the mission ahead of schedule.
One of the challenges the team faced was finding some of the water buffalos to begin with.
"There were 11 hidden in the woods and we didn't know where they were," Schweitzer said. "It was like an Easter egg hunt."
After the team found the buffalos, they hitched them to a light medium tactical vehicle, or LMTV, drove them to the 147th Regiment (Regional Training Institute) at the far eastern end of Camp Ravenna, sanitized them, then drove them back and staged them around the tactical training base.
To cool the water, the team adds large blocks of ice. This is especially important because many of the buffalos sit in the sun all day.
Plouck will leave the team halfway through annual training to serve as an instructor for the regiment's 2nd Battalion, but the other two Soldiers will continue providing water for the troops.
"I like the job," Schweitzer said. "I asked to extend my annual training."
"They are two 19-year-old specialists that want nothing but to work," Plouck said. "They set the standard for what a Soldier should be." |
