FORT McCOY, Wis. –
“A lot of times, we show the front lines, but we miss the perspective that to support the front lines, we need units like the 948th Transportation Company and 941st Transportation Company to make sure they get the resources they need to conduct their battlefield operations,” said U.S. Army Reserve 1st Lt. Larry Subramanian of the 948th Transportation Company.
Subramanian is currently serving as the officer in charge (OIC) for the central receiving and shipping point (CRSP) yard, tasked with accounting for and maintaining the vehicles requested and shipped to Fort McCoy for the annual Warrior Exercise (WAREX) training mission. Logistical tasks such as these often are overlooked, but they are critical to mission success.
“I really enjoy the transportation specialty,” said Subramanian. "Logistics and moving goods from one point to another supports the end goal, which is to win wars and win the battles for our units.”
On the civilian side, Subramanian is a material manager at an airline manufacturer performing similar activities to his job in the Army Reserve, which greatly helped him prepare for WAREX. During this exercise the CRSP yard has had more than 300 different types of equipment, valued at more than 18 million dollars; all without a single safety incident, which has been a main focus of Subramanian and 948th.
“Before this exercise, we made sure that our drivers were familiar with the vehicles they were driving. We went over the process behind the CRSP yard with them. We have daily briefs with all our troops… we inform them of the importance of hydration, the importance of reporting any issues to us right away, and most importantly working as a team and looking out for each other," said Subramanian.
Subramanian stressed that the knowledge, cohesion, and passion of his troops allowed their training to be successful, "I'd like to really thank the non-commissioned officers that are in our unit, who bring a vast wealth of experience. Without them, a successful mission for the 948th would not be possible.”