the company commander. “There are a lot of roads being built in Afghanistan.”
The AT is a milestone, the first since the unit stood up in October 2008. Several members of the 160th Engineer Detachment took part as well.
As he grinned through a cloud of gravel dust, Staff Sgt. William Cook, a 150th member who once listed his top three military job preferences as engineer, engineer and engineer, said progress on the road – nearly 2,000 feet in two weeks – surprised him.
“When we got here, we had a swamp,” he said. “Now, it’s starting to look a lot like a road.”
In addition to the digging, grading and laying the stabilizing sand and gravel for the road, all of the Soldiers trained on the safe operation of five- and 20-ton dump trucks.
Spc. Reggie Pharel, a supply clerk, enjoyed the driver training so much he volunteered to get behind the wheel of a five-ton dump truck every day for the rest of AT.
After several 10-hour days of driving the same two-mile loop, he still wasn’t bored.
“Good training,” he said with a big smile as he backed up to drop yet another load of gravel. |