FORT STORY, Va. –
On a typical day at the Fort Eustis, Va., 3rd Port, an individual may catch a glimpse of the U.S. Army's only causeway unit, which manages a mobile, constructible tool able to withstand the power of the ocean. The causeway company's tool is fittingly named the Trident, after the staff wielded by the Greek god, Poseidon.
The Trident pier is maintained by the 331st Transport Company, 11th Transportation Battalion, 7th Sustainment Brigade. It takes every ounce of muscle and sweat from the approximately 100 Soldiers assigned to the company to assemble the 1,200-foot pier.
The stabbing of the beach is the culminating event for the Trident. Steel segments, with the help of compressed air, are assembled in the shape of a trident which will then be slammed into the beach at Fort Story.
The reason for the shape is to better make use of its roll-on and roll-off capabilities, said 11th Transportation Battalion commander, Lt. Col. Karl Linderman. The middle of the three-point 'spear' is used for larger vessels to unload the larger equipment and vehicles.
The multiple-ton sections of the Trident were held on the SS Cape May approximately a nautical mile off the coast. Inside the massive vessel, Soldiers and civilians worked together to unlatch chains and locks that held the pier sections on the lower decks of the vessel.
"With roughly 38 personnel, we started the mission at about 7:00 a.m. It is amazing, but not surprising, to see these Soldiers' motivation. They did so well, we are ahead of schedule," said Sgt. 1st Class Segun Ayodele, senior stevedore for the 149th Seaport Operations Company, 10th Trans. Batt. "We broke the pieces down and pushed them back on the Cape May's stern elevator, which lowered them down for the warping tugs to transport."
After several hours, each section had been unlatched, which began the process of dropping pier sections into the ocean. As the warping tug crew slowly makes their way to the stern of the Cape Way, the first sections are being put together a few hundred feet away. A few seconds later, the nearby warping tug was ready to winch up the next two sections.
"It's probably going to take a few hours to complete the pier because of the sea. It is a little choppy, but we are putting them together with guillotines and hooks moving it as safely as possible," said Pfc. Brian Green, watercraft specialist with the 331st Trans. Co. "The crew does make it easy, because it is a big confidence boost working with people you trust."
A complete pier can withstand waves up to five feet tall, said Linderman. Strong, almost metallic, rubber pieces attached to the pier, called flexors, allow the pier to 'flex' and ride the sea waves. It can hold any large vehicle in the Army.
So much is dependent upon the Trident's completion, said Linderman.
"When complete we can use it to offload engineer equipment, graders, bulldozers, Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks, Humvees and Navy vehicles too. In Haiti, where the pier was partially destroyed, we setup adjacent to the pier and helped move thousands of pounds of food, water, medical supplies, vehicles and other items to sustain the country," said Linderman. "With JLOTS, we get some real good training, and good team work is found everywhere."
By 4:30 p.m. on the second day, a crowd stood on the shore while three bulldozers mauled the beach, pushing and pulling sand, creating a makeshift duck pond. The water-filled pond will allow the pier to extend beyond the shore above the current sea level. To onlookers, it seemed to be a large operation in support of a single moment.
"This is like our Super Bowl. This is the years' biggest event and this is how we show how important we are to the Army," said 331st Trans. Co. commander Capt. Christina Shelton. "A perfect example was our recent mission to Antarctica assisting the National Science Foundation. Their ice pier, which can usually handle the offloading of trucks, containers, heavy equipment and supplies, wasn't capable this year. We were a great candidate because, compared to civilian sea operations and the Navy, we are very mobile and able to travel around the world by rail, air, and sea. We had a month to prepare then we headed out the door."
After the pond was broken, the stage was set for the Trident to makes its initial stab. It took four Landing Craft Mechanized boats to tow the pier in the correct position. The waves were splashing as dolphins, which could be seen in the late-evening ocean, moved away as fast they could.
Suddenly, "crash!"
The pier had made the stab!
After the pier heavily pierced the beach, the crews moved across the beach with ease, making their way to the buses set to take them home for a much-needed break. The Trident is properly constructed, giving the Army safe passage along the Atlantic Coast.