Vehicle recovery is no 'piece of cake' 

By Sgt David Bill 
48th BCT Public Affairs 

Staff Sgt. Steven Dowling, 35, of Company B, 148th Support Battalion, 48th Brigade Combat Team, has a tough mission. As the non-commissioned officer in charge of a recovery team, it’s up to him to make sure his Soldiers are ready day and night to salvage any vehicle that has been disabled or destroyed by an explosive device. 

Dowling, a Jessup resident, is a maintenance team chief in Company B. Since arriving in Iraq he has been assigned to run the company’s Catastrophic Damaged Vehicle Recovery Unit. “I don’t mind doing it… but I hope for no more than one (recovery) per shift,” he said. 

Dowling’s 12-man crew is divided into three teams of four Soldiers, each with varying maintenance experience. “The goal is to have six people per team, but there are not enough trained Soldiers available,” he explained. 

Spc. Michael Quinones of Eastman is a wheeled vehicle mechanic for the unit. At the age of 36, he’s also a civilian probation officer in Warner Robins. Quinones talked about going out on his first recovery mission, “It was okay,” he said, thinking back to that moment. “You don’t know how bad the vehicle is damaged until you see it, but everyone was on the ball.” 

The 648th Engineer Battalion, to whom the disabled vehicle belonged, had good security for the mission, Quinones said. “The engineers sent back two Humvees as escorts and as security for us,” he continued, “plus the Brigade Quick Reaction Force was there in support.” There were even some M3 Bradley fighting vehicles there, he said. “Once we got the vehicle back to the motor pool for the 648th, the escort vehicles turned right around and went back to the business of their mission.” Quinones said. 

When the call comes in for the recovery team, it means a convoy has been hit by some sort of attack and it cannot recover the damaged vehicle by use of a tow rope, tow bar or just by pushing the vehicle out of the way. 

Recovering a vehicle with catastrophic damage is challenging. The condition of the vehicle and the location it is in can make it most difficult. The process requires that the recovery crew position a wrecker to lift the vehicle, which may require pulling it from a ditch or turning it over, and then moving a flatbed “low boy” trailer underneath the vehicle so it can be taken away. 

“We had no training for this before we arrive ‘in country,’” Dowling explained. “But we’ve gained experience by riding with Soldiers from Support Battalion, 2d Brigade, 10th Mountain Division.” Additional equipment and training will help him and his Soldiers better their skills, he added. A large flatbed truck with the Palletized Loading System (PLS), for example, soon will be added to the equipment he and his team will have to expedite the process, Dowling said. “With the PLS, it should take 15 minutes from getting on the incident scene to moving out,” he said. 

Sgt. Richard Isonhood, 29 from Allenhurst, Ga., is a welder on a wrecker. His prior deployment to the region in 1998 with the 3d ID allows him to assist the younger Soldiers who are new to the unit. “The last time I was here, things were more relaxed, there were more break downs and less catastrophic kills.” 

As Dowling and the 648th continue the recovery missions, there are other things that are being added to the recovery mission, said Lt. Col. Jeffery Edge, who commands the 148th FSB. 

“We need to get more people involved to give the teams depth so they will be ready to move,” he said. “What we have to be able to do is get out to the Soldiers sitting on the side of the road with a broke down vehicle.” 

That, Edge added, would mean a quick recovery. And that translates into a quicker turn around time for them so they can continue their mission.