Sgt. Nathan Lehman, from Sault Ste Marie, Mich., with the 250th engineers, multi-role bridge company, Connecticut Army National Guard, works on constructing a Mabey Johnson panel bridge across the Tigris River near Salman Pak, Iraq on June 2. The bridge will provide a vital link to the town for area farmers.

A bead of sweat drips off Capt. Chuck Taylor’s brow and into the dirt that lines the banks of the Tigris River.

He tells the medic keep an eye on the Soldiers in the unit and make sure they stay hydrated. It’s 7 p.m. and the temperature is hovering just over 100 degrees.

Both U.S. and Iraqi forces pull 360-degree security while the 250th Engineers Multi-Role Bridge Company, Connecticut Army National Guard, continued to work night and day to build a Mabey Johnson panel bridge across the Tigris River, near the town of Salman Pak.

Taylor, commander of the 250th, oversaw the operation. He directed the troops to accomplish the project by moving equipment into place during the day, then performing the majority of construction at night to escape the sun’s heat.

Taylor explained that the bridge is important in this location because the only other way for locals to get to the town of Salman Pak is to take a three-hour detour to the next crossing.

“The Salman Pak area has really grown as far as farms and commerce. Having this bridge in place allows the residents and farmers on this shore to take their produce to town and sell their product and purchase the things that they need,” Taylor said.

In 2003, U.S. forces built an assault float bridge at this location. However, it was designed to be temporary and was starting to show its age, according to Taylor.

Soldiers with the 250th engineers, multi-role bridge company, Connecticut Army National Guard work on constructing a Mabey Johnson panel bridge across the Tigris River near Salman Pak, Iraq on June 3.

He said this area was so important to the government of Iraq that they requested his unit’s assistance in putting a more permanent support bridge to replace the float bridge.

“As long as it’s properly maintained this Mabey Johnson Bridge will last on a sight like this for many years to come,” said Taylor.

Pfc. Andrea Reynolds, an equipment operator with the engineers, said she is proud of the work she and her unit is doing.

“It’s amazing, watching everyone and seeing what they can do,” said Reynolds, from New Haven, Conn. “I have never seen anything like this. Watching everyone work together to make something that is going to make the local population have a better life is really rewarding.”

Members of the Iraqi Army who worked with the engineers were also impressed by the speed of the project.

“They keep working. Night and day, they just keep going,” said Pvt. Nasrat Ayad Najem, an Iraqi soldier.

“I am very amazed with how the U.S. Soldiers are constructing the bridge, and how they are doing it so fast,” said Pvt. Aalaa Rasul Kareemn, an Iraqi army engineer. “There must be no better way to build a bridge.”

DVIDS
Story by Staff Sgt. Daniel Yarnall

Uganda Peoples Defense Force Staff Sgt. Alex Agudio along with Seabees from the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3 arranges the back piece of a form in place. A form is constructed at the foundation of a bridge and is used to hold concrete in place while it dries. The NMBC 3 detachment, ported in Hueneme, Calif., is currently deployed to Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa, and is schedule to complete the bridge in January 2010. Photo by Staff Sgt. Ronald Lafosse

The camp’s perimeter looks like it has been overgrown by bushy Central African foliage. The plant life conceals five-foot-diameter coils of concertina wire strung through it by Seabees from one of the U.S. Navy’s mobile construction teams.

At the modest camp’s core is a series of canvas tents, each the color and texture of cracked, dry desert mud. These tents provide living space and working facilities for the 25 Seabees and two U.S. Air Force communication specialists assigned here. Construction equipment and trucks are arranged neatly, away from the tents. Mosquitoes and other insects are everywhere, along with birds and small reptiles.

The three free-standing, facilities on the camp are its two containerized washrooms and a small wood-constructed dining facility. There’s one tree, near the entrance to the camp.

“We live in tents and sleep on cots, but we make it work. I haven’t heard one complaint about the conditions here,” said St. Louis native constructionman, Seaman Christina Follmer, a Seabee assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3.

NMCB-3, based out of Port Hueneme, Calif., is one of two battalions which have worked on this project. Physical work on the Aromo Bridge water crossing has been in progress since at least April, but it was in the planning and engineering phases before that. When the support structures are completed, a multi-section, 140-foot span will be properly balanced and pushed out on rollers, counterbalanced on one end and otherwise without supports above or pylons below.

Gravity, the construction of the span and the workmanship of the Seabees will allow the bridge to stand on its own after the counter-balancing load is removed. For their part, NMCB-3 has been concentrating its efforts on creating solid abutments in muddy bluffs on either side of the Achwa River. NMCB-3 relieved a crew from NMCB-11 from Gulfport, Miss., on this site.

Follmer and the other Seabees here have lived the same routine, day-in and day-out, for the last two months. They leave this camp and drive two miles to their job site, a bridge under construction, and spend their assembling heavy gauge wire baskets called gabions. Then they are filled with local rock provided by a Ugandan contractor and stacked accordingly to specifications to provide a solid base for the new abutments.

“This is what I do. I’ve been swinging a hammer since I was a kid. So this is right in my line of work,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Steven Szyplinski, a builder and native of Washougal, Wash. Szyplinski is currently the bridge foreman and uses his experience in construction to direct the other Seabees.

Every day, when they’re done with the first half of the day’s work, they head back to their camp to relax over lunch. Today, they are treated to the smell of roasting meat; it’ll be steak for the mid-day meal.

While they wait for the word, they stand under their shade tree, trying to stay out of the hot October sun. Usually, around 1 p.m. the word for lunch hits and Seabees gravitate to the galley.

After lunch, Chief Petty Officer Thomas Sharp, a utilitiesman and assistant officer in charge, said the Seabees are scheduled to push the British-fabricated, component-constructed, 140-foot Mabey-Johnson bridge in place this December. They will use an excavator which will allow them to control the bridge more safely rather than pushing it by hand.

Ensign John Daly, mission commander for NMCB-3′s Seabees here, said the construction of the cantilever bridge project is nearing the 40 percent mark. Tropical Ugandan rains slow progress from time to time, making the ground a muddy soup that Daly described as being difficult to walk in. The equatorial sun dries the rain-soaked dirt, leaving a cracked-earth walking surface — and nearly everyone on the site caked in layers of dried mud. Their sweat keeps the silt in their boots wet as they work.

“As long as we have good work to do every day, good food to eat and get to call home once in a while, the days roll right along and carry with them incremental progress,” said Daly. “It also helps to be able to take a decent shower at the end of the day and to put on some dry shoes.”

Even the most junior Seabees on the job are focused. “We know we are here for the people, and everyone takes pride in the work,” said Follmer, sweat making tracks through the caked dust on her face. The Sailors have also made friends here, trading laughs and small commercial items as gestures of trust and friendship.

“A lot of people go out of their way here, whenever we go into town, to buy school supplies for the kids,” said Follmer. “Everyone is really trying to pull together and help out. Whether it is including them in our physical fitness training or simply going around and asking them ‘Hey, do you need help,’ or ‘How are things going,’ trying to understand their lives.”

Follmer continued, “The kids will continue benefiting from the bridge long after we are gone.”

“It rains almost every single day here, which we know is a blessing to the Ugandans, but it makes for a challenging project, especially working on a drainage feature crossing,” said Daly. “This is exactly the kind of work we joined the Navy to do, so the chance to do it, regardless of the environment, is exciting.”

DVIDS
Story by Staff Sgt. Ronald Lafosse

An aerial view of the Mabey Johnson bridge on Sept. 1 shows the culmination of a one month long partnership project between the 225th Engineer Brigade, 555th Engineer Brigade, and elements of three Iraqi army Field Engineering Regiments. The enormous bridge spans 100 meters over the Tigris River near Taji in northern Baghdad. It will allow the crossing of nearly any piece of equipment the military uses today.

On the banks of the mighty Tigris River, a track excavator slowly inched forward, pushing a land-based on ramp towards a pontoon suspension bridge.

Simple pins, connecting the two, marked the Aug. 31 completion of a spectacular engineering effort from three separate engineer entities that took a month to complete.

Engineers of the 225th Engineer Brigade, the 555th Engineer Brigade and elements of the Headquarters, 4th and 5th Iraqi Army Field Engineer Regiments have literally bridged the gap while spanning the river to reduce traffic inside of Baghdad in accordance with the Security Agreement.

On July 27, the 277th Engineer Company, 46th Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy), 225th Eng. Bde., began the massive job of removing 6,000 cubic yards of dirt to level both banks of the river for the bridge’s on and off ramps. Using the Army’s largest bulldozer, the D9, San Antonio-based engineers moved some 400 dump truck loads worth of dirt in only 23 days.

“The 277th Eng. Company’s scope of work was to construct the near side and far side approach and the boat launch sites. This was done with a variety of engineer operations of cutting and filling; loading and hauling and grading, leveling and compacting,” said plans officer, Maj. Shane Rauh, of Baton Rouge, La.

Next, Soldiers of the 555th Engineer Brigade assembled the ramps of the Maybe Johnson Bridge and launched the portion of bridge suspended by pontoons over the Tigris.

The final phase of the engineer tri-fecta was a company sized element from the Iraqi army Field Engineer Regiments. The partnership was not only great training for the emplacement of the actual bridge, but allowed the U.S. Soldiers to show the Iraqis how to maintain the bridge once U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq.

“The big significance here is this is my first time that I know of … that we’ve actually built a bridge alongside the Iraqi brethren and the Iraqi Engineers. It’s a huge significance because we’ve got [three] regiments out here worth of people helping us out to build this bridge,” Capt. John Davis of Virginia Beach, Va., commander of the 50th Multi-Role Bridge Company explained.

“We were able to train them in the past on the Maybe Johnson on how to do the emplacement and maneuver of these bridges and to get them out here on site and to get them building and all come together, there’s just a lot of national pride out here,” he said.

For the 50th MRBC, working with the Maybe Johnson was not a first, but suspending the bridge with pontoons to make a sort of floating bridge was a first that allowed for a rare training opportunity.

“This is a non-standard bridge. This is something we bought and are using based on operational needs in Iraq right now,” Davis continued. “So this is great for them to get training and get experience to carry on to the next generation of Army [bridge builders].”

“This is a Maybe Johnson Combat 200 version. It is capable of pretty much crossing any kind of traffic the military has right now. It will enable the units in this area to have freedom of maneuver … to keep the fight progressing,” said Davis.

The bridge opened to military traffic Aug. 31.

DVIDS
Story by Sgt. Rebekah Malone

BEFORE

AFTER

Members of the Australian Reconstruction Task Force and Task Force Castle’s 420th Engineer Brigade completed the emplacement of two Mabey Johnson bridges near Andar and Moqur in eastern Afghanistan.

Insurgent attacks during the summer left the bridges impassible, forcing Afghans and coalition forces to use single-lane bypasses.

Work progressed quickly once the Australian and American combat engineers arrived. The first bridge in Andar was erected in just over two days, and forces then moved on to Moqur, where they emplaced the second bridge.

Both bridges are on Highway 1, which connects Kandahar in southern Afghanistan to the Afghan capital of Kabul. Highway 1 is a paved route originally built in the 1960s. The 300-mile stretch that includes the bridges was refurbished in 2002 and 2003 as part of President Bush’s Afghanistan Road Initiative. The U.S. Agency for International Development credits the work with reducing the transit time between Kandahar and Kabul by half.

In recent months, Highway 1 has become a focal point for insurgent activity, as Taliban fighters and common bandits target supply convoys and merchant traffic. The bridge attacks were the latest in the Taliban’s efforts to impede Afghanistan’s reconstruction and stability, officials said.

The bridge attacks are a serious concern, but not a serious engineering problem to solve.

“Each section of the bridge is called a bay and is about 10 feet long,” said Army Capt. James Reid, Task Force Castle’s assistant operations officer. “We were able to do a 10-bay bridge in two days.”

Reid, an Arkansas native, has seen a great deal in his 20 years of military service, with multiple tours in Iraq and now building bridges in Afghanistan.

“I’m excited to be involved in this,” he said. “It’s helping everybody — it’s helping Afghanistan, it’s helping the coalition forces, and it’s just a win-win for everyone.”

DoD
By Army 1st Lt. Tomas Rofkahr
Special to American Forces Press Service

A view of the new Rustimiyah land bridge from the old bridge, Feb. 28

DVIDS
By Staff Sgt. Sean Riley, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs Office

The rusty remains of a temporary steel bridge were removed from over the Diyala River, Feb. 28, after the opening of the new Rustimiyah Bridge.

The 74th Engineer Company, from Fort Hood, Texas, stationed at Balad Air Base, recovered a prefabricated Mabey Johnson bridge which was elevated several feet above the surface of the old Rustimiyah bridge. The structure was a temporary solution to a hole from a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device blast last May.

In less than a year, the government of Iraq funded and constructed a new land bridge to span the river, connecting Jisr Diyala and Baghdad. It was opened for public use after a ceremony and a parade Feb. 22.

The temporary Mabey Johnson bridge was falling into disrepair from frequent use by citizens and local residents.

Iraqi national police with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st NP Division, and U.S. Soldiers from Company D, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, currently attached to the 3rd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, provided security while the engineer company removed the bridge.

“The Rustimiyah Bridge site is a prime example of the Iraqi government and security progress made in just one year,” said 1st Lt. Timothy Eng, 3-1st Cav. Regt. squadron engineer, from San Jose, Calif.

The 3/3/1 NP Div. took charge of the security of the bridge with little assistance from members of 3-1st Cav. Regt.

Capt. Damond Davis, from Montgomery, Ala., fire support officer for 3-1st Cav. Regt., was impressed by the professionalism and confidence the NP demonstrated while securing the site.

“Ten months ago, when we worked with the national police, we were constantly coaching,” Davis said. “Now, it feels more like working with a fellow Soldier when we conduct operations with them; they have made great gains.”

The 3/1/1 NP Div., under Col. Emad, has garnered significant public support from the local populace in just one year. Eng said the gains in support are due, in large part, to Col. Emad’s leadership.

“(Col. Emad’s) ability to work with Sons of Iraq leaders has proven to be invaluable to provide the best possible security for the citizens of Iraq,” Eng said.

The NP recently provided security while new Jisr Diyala SoI checkpoints were established, said Eng.

“The Jisr Diyala Joint Security Site enables the NP to work in close quarters with the Sons of Iraq representatives to plan missions and provide immediate assistance to local citizens who come in with their needs,” Eng said. “All of these factors provided a solid foundation to conduct the joint security operations at the Rustimiyah Bridge.”

Company D, 1-15 Inf. Regt., attached to 3-1st Cav. Regt., is assigned to the 3rd HBCT, 3rd Infantry Division, from Fort Benning, Ga., and has been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom since March 2007.