Welders unsung heroes of battlefield

[3BPercherons]

Thought y'all would get a kick out of this article about combat welders in Afghanistan. Here's a taste -

"A lot of people don't know what we do for the fight, but we're fairly mission essential," said Pfc. Nathan Bates, a CTFS combat welder from northern California. "If something metal is broken in sector or a mechanical part is needed on the spot, ordering, receiving and installing the part could take months where as I can build it right there that day."

A welder joins and shapes metal pieces by heating their surfaces to the point of melting, and the list of products the Strike combat welders create in southern Afghanistan is significant.

"We've replaced parts on bulldozers, fixed rolled over vehicles, built mobile offices inside tactical vehicles, made modifications and upgrades for equipment and of course repaired the mine rollers," said Staff Sgt. Steven Spark, a welder and machinist for the troop. "There is only one or two of us in a squadron or battalion and we're always welding something."

 

[gauthier]

Spark,now thats a welders name:laughing:

 

[Gary Fowler]

I can relate to that, I was the Division welder in a tank division in Fort Lewis Washington. We were a NATO support group and none of us saw duty in Vietnam which was a good thing at the time. I had and E2 as my assistant and we had to heat and beat those tanks and APC's back together everytime we went on maneuvers. Fenders and bumpers took the most of the brunt as we didnt come across a lot of mine fields or RPG assaults at FL, Washington. It was interesting work though as most of the stuff we had to fix was armor grade aluminum. I remember trying to straighten an aluminum bumper on an APC that the driver has bent in at least 4 ". I never did get it pulled back out. I heated with torched and pounded with sledge hammer and finally hooked a 5 ton truck to it with a chain and yanked that APC in circles around the motor pool and only got it half way straightened. That is some tough aluminum.