California Guard finds helicopter parts, saves money

By Army Spc. Matthew A. Wright
40th Combat Aviation Brigade

Army Spc. John Millan, technical supply specialist, Bravo Company, 640th Aviation Support Battalion, California National Guard, helped inventory parts that were discovered at Camp Taji, Iraq, saving the Army million of dollars, seen here on May 3, 2011. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Matthew Wright)
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CAMP TAJI, Iraq (5/12/11) – With the discovery of thousands of helicopter parts – from tires to transmissions and rotary blades – a California National Guard aviation support battalion has identified and inventoried millions of dollars worth of the unused parts, returning them to the supply system.

After eight years’ war, numerous units and massive amounts of military hardware have cycled through Iraq.

With preparations underway for the combat theater to close down in December, the technical supply section of California’s 640th Aviation Support Battalion is playing a critical role in tracking and moving tons of Army aviation hardware out of country.

More than $10 million in unused and unaccounted for parts have been processed since the 640th ASB arrived a little over two months ago, some of those parts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece, said Army Maj. Jeremy Johnson, 640th ASB support operations officer.

Parts have been found in cardboard boxes and storage containers, primarily on Camp Taji’s airfield, Johnson said.

The 640th is a California Army National Guard aviation support battalion from Los Alamitos, Calif. It is attached to the 40th Combat Aviation Brigade, deployed to Iraq in support of Operation New Dawn. One of the battalion’s missions is maintaining the CAB’s helicopters to keep them flying.

On March 7, the 640th ASB took over the support mission in Iraq from the 601st Aviation Support Battalion. The 640th is the only aviation support battalion operating in theater.

Over the past month and a half, the technical supply section of the 640th’s Bravo Company, led by Army Staff Sgt. Adan Reyes, inventoried parts recovered from storage containers at Camp Taji.

Reyes had the equipment transported to his warehouse, organized what his unit could use and sent the rest to Kuwait or the United States to be used by other units.

“We had it all trucked over to a consolidated location, and we inventoried the lion's share of it,” Johnson said. “The things that we could use, we went ahead and pulled out and put on our shelves.”

Reyes and his staff took time out of their already busy work schedule and logged the equipment back into the Army’s supply system, Johnson said.

“We started off with six Soldiers – three during the day and three during the night,” said Army Spc. John Millan, technical specialist with Bravo Company. “With Soldiers on R and R [rest and recuperation leave] and on reset days [days off], we borrowed some staff from Alpha Company, so we probably had around 10 people for both shifts.”

“We found Chinook transmissions,” Johnson said. “The cheap ones are $650,000.”

Chinook engines were also found, which can run about $800,000 or more, he estimated.

During a visit to Camp Taji on April 26, Army Maj. Gen. Harold G. Bunch, assistant deputy commanding general for Reserve Affairs, Army Materiel Command out of Fort Belvoir, Va., presented Reyes with a coin in recognition of his commitment to the general’s motto, “Accountability, Visibility and Velocity.”

With the parts found at Camp Taji logged and inventoried, the next job is to recover parts throughout Iraq. Parts are already arriving from other bases.

Plans are being made to search for even more caches of parts, Johnson said. There is still more equipment worth millions to be shipped and processed by the 640th’s tech supply staff, he said.

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