California Guard members participate in Operation Clean Sweep

By Army Spc. Matthew A. Wright
Camp Taji

Army Spc. Jose Martinez, with the California National Guard's 640th Aviation Support Battalion, sorts equipment as he helps with Operation Clean Sweep at Camp Taji on July 1, 2011. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Matthew A. Wright)
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CAMP TAJI, Iraq (7/8/11) – As the drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq approaches, the California National Guard's 640th Aviation Support Battalion is collecting and itemizing unused or damaged military equipment in support of Operation Clean Sweep.

The unused equipment, which has accumulated over the last eight years here, is made up of serviceable automotive parts, such as tires, Gator utility vehicle parts, mine resistant ambush protected vehicle parts and other items the military can make use of, said Army Capt. Joseph Adams, a planning officer with the 640th.

The 640th is assisting a team from the 549th Quartermaster Company by gathering all the equipment and property on Camp Taji that is not on unit property books and putting it back on those books or sending it back to the U.S.

The idea behind the operation is to salvage the equipment and save taxpayers money, he said.

"We saved up to $12 million," Adams said.

Army Capt. Pedro Alvarez, the officer in charge of the unit's logistics section, said that another big part of Operation Clean Sweep is to make the U.S. military's footprint on Camp Taji smaller by getting rid of all equipment that is not being used.

Adams pointed out that it is like an amnesty period for the units to turn in all new and used property to be either reused or recycled.

The 640th and the 549th teams came up with a plan to have all the units on post bring in all unused and broken equipment to a yard to organize and classify the items as serviceable or non-serviceable items.

"What I did with the plan was coordinate and organize our people from the 640th which have provided a couple of Soldiers from each company to assist with classifying the stuff, Adams said.

"Some of the items are put back into the system. It is reissued to the units that can make some use out of it."

The reissued equipment does not go to just the units on Camp Taji.

"It is going to either here in Iraq, Afghanistan or other locations where we have military forces," Adams said.

The unserviceable or broken equipment that is collected will be disposed of by the team.

"It goes to either to the Defense Reutilization and Management Office or it goes through recycling," Adams said. "There they refurbish or fix it to be used later on."

He added that the recyclables collected included copper wire and scrap metal, much of which can be sent back to the U.S. and recycled.

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