RPAT: Responsibly moving equipment out of Iraq

Published Sept. 21, 2010
By Staff Sgt. Sanjay Allen
Air Component Coordination Element-Iraq Public Affairs

AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq -- Airmen assigned to RPAT here have been working alongside Soldiers, contractors and Department of the Army civilians to ensure equipment leaving Iraq gets to its proper location, and in a usable condition as U.S. Forces continue to drawdown forces as well as equipment in Iraq.

First Lt. Kimberly Curtis, Redistribution Property Assistance Team officer in charge, deployed from Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, explained that RPATs are a way of ensuring President Barrack Obama's initiative for a responsible drawdown of forces is met. She said the U.S. must make sure all equipment has been accounted for, whether it goes back the U.S., forward deployed to Afghanistan or turned over to the Iraqis.

The RPAT's primary focus here is on excess vehicles in the Iraq theater. However, on occasion they will also receive non-rolling stock equipment.

When vehicles come in, they are inspected with the Soldiers who brought them in. Once it is inspected, cleaned and accounted for, it is loaded onto a flatbed trailer to be sent to its next location.

"The inspection is extremely important, because if a vehicle is missing an item that is serialized and supposed to be inside of it, (a Soldier or unit, is) going to be missing it for their mission and it could hinder what they're doing down the line," said Lieutenant Curtis, a Modesto, Calif., native.

The team works around the clock, sometimes with only a few hours to prepare for inspection of a large incoming Army unit.

The team must be critical, so the next deployed units receive reliable equipment, but also expedient, because Soldiers can't redeploy until all their equipment is accounted for.

"I verify all the items that are supposed to be in the vehicles are in there and it helps the unit from having to pay for the missing items," said Staff Sgt. Laurel Gallagher, RPAT rolling stock noncommissioned officer in charge, deployed from Altus AFB, Okla. "And when the vehicle goes downrange (the receiving units) don't get a vehicle that's broken and unserviceable."

Staff Sgt. Erwin Samson, RPAT non-rolling stock NCOIC deployed from Langley AFB, Va., described the inventory process as being challenging, but said when coming together as a team with his fellow Airmen and Soldiers, nothing is impossible.

"The process of inspecting, inventorying and preparing for a shipment can be hectic, tiring and dirty," said the native of Virginia Beach, Va. "However, as a team of different Air Force career fields, we all work together and make everything possible."

There are seven other RPATs, plus 12 mobile teams, in Iraq doing the same inspections and shipments as the team in Al Asad, ensuring a continued responsible drawdown.

"We're here to help the Army turn-ins move smoother so they can be processed faster and be used for the next mission," said Sergeant Gallagher, a native of Hayward, Calif.