In Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland,” the Cheshire cat says, “If you don’t know where you are going, then any road will get you there.” Fortunately for Fort Polk and the surrounding community, the 687th Engineer Company (Warhorse), 46th Engineer Battalion, 1st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, built a road to FreedomFest for those who knew that’s where they were going.
On July 4, hundreds of thousands of Americans attended Independence Day celebrations across the country, a large percentage of which were at military installations like Fort Polk. This year’s event (FreedomFest) was held at the Fort Polk Army Airfield.
Thousands of civilians and military Families gathered at this event. They brought children, chairs and most importantly –– their vehicles. Traffic for such a large event could have tarnished the true nature of the celebration. Recognizing this potential hazard, Brig. Gen. James Yarbrough, Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk commander, commissioned the 46th Engineer Battalion to upgrade and construct four new road sections to relieve the flow of traffic.
The scope of work and logistics for the project was extensive, yet doable. The project called for the upgrade of three existing road sections and the construction of two new roads that totaled more than 800 meters. The 46th Eng Bn commander, Lt. Col. Natalie Pearson, tasked the 687th Eng Co to complete the mission. Upon receiving the directive, the 687th Eng Co began task organizing its company into areas of responsibility.
The 1st Platoon, (Wild Stallions) was tasked with the construction of a 75-meter road on the north end of the runway and the upgrade of a 300-meter road on the south end. The scope of work also included a washout area that needed to be filled and compacted to make it safe for vehicle traffic. The 1st platoon, under the leadership of 2nd Lt. Garret Anderson and Sgt. 1st Class James Dean, attacked the project. Soldiers from the platoon began work May 4 with initial road prep that called for the clearing and grubbing of all organic material from the existing road.
Enlisting the help of the 22nd Surveyor Detachment under the leadership of Chief Warrant Officer 2 Anthony Jellison, 1st Platoon was able to use dozers, graders, rollers and a scraper to compact and smooth the base for the road way surface, which the company would lay down in the weeks to come.
The 2nd Platoon (Dark Knights) was tasked with the construction of a 150-meter road on the south end of the runway, which included installing an 18-inch culvert to facilitate water flow. The platoon was also required to upgrade an existing service road in the same area. The platoon leadership (2nd Lt. Felipe Perez and Sgt. 1st Class Paul Everett), along with Directorate of Public Works engineers, did water flow analyses to properly install the culvert. Initially, the existing road was to be expanded but, due to existing infrastructure restraints, the platoon had to come up with a new plan to meet the project’s intent.
The new plan called for the construction of a one-lane road 15 meters from the existing road. This meant the platoon had to start from scratch, laying down fill material to have a proper sub-base for the wear surface. With the installation of the culvert and the construction of the road, the platoon gained valuable engineering skills which will help them in future projects both at home station and elsewhere.
The 3rd Platoon (Juggernaughts) was not left out of the project. Under the leadership of Sgt. 1st Class Guadalupe Ramirez, the platoon provided extra equipment operators and logistical haul support. Due to the lack of standard materials for the project, the 46th Eng Bn along with DPW and G3 engineer, John Bradford, came up with an innovative way to construct and upgrade the roads. They used reclaimed asphalt material, or RAM.
This material would be directly transported from Louisiana Avenue to a staging area at the project site. Once the material arrived at the staging area, 3rd Platoon loaded, transported and spread the RAM so that the horizontal platoons could grade and compact the material to make it safe for vehicle traffic. In all, more than 100 dump truck loads of RAM were delivered and spread.
The project was a valuable opportunity for the 687th Eng Co. Soldiers learned new techniques in civilian road construction and leadership trained on project management. This year, thousands of people safely accessed Fort Polk’s FreedomFest celebration thanks to the Soldiers of the 687th Eng Co.
