Specialist Shaneka Simmons, Co. E, 4-3rd Avn. Regt., drains fuel from a heater at the CAB flight line, Baghdad, May 3. Photo by Pfc. Monica K. Smith.

“I enjoy working hard with my peers, my (noncommissioned officers) and getting the job done,” said Spc. Shaneka Simmons, from Fort Meade, Fla. “It makes Iraq better than it seems by having good people around you.”

The platoon provides maintenance to all ground support equipment within the battalion, which includes trucks, trailers and generators, in addition to dispatching vehicles, conducting services and performing scheduled and unscheduled maintenance.

“If a truck breaks down on the side of the road, we’ll recover it, fix it and return it to the user,” said Chief Warrant Officer Two David Jeannotte, battalion maintenance technician for Company E.

In the 12 months the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade has been deployed, the maintenance platoon has performed more than 2,300 work orders, more than 300 scheduled services and has kept the battalion’s operational readiness rate at 98 percent.

Staff Sergeant Kipatrick Jackson, the platoon’s scheduled-services noncommissioned officer in charge, calls his Solders “Legend Killers” and says discipline and flexibility is what makes the battalion maintenance Soldiers work well together.

“They are willing to learn and grow,” Jackson said. “One day they could be doing a service and the next day it will change but they’re versatile. They keep rockin’ and rollin’.”

Staff Sergeant Oscar Romero, from Peoria, Ill., said the Soldiers in his platoon are not only concerned with their military occupational specialty but with learning others as well.

“Just in case someone is sick, someone else can step up to the plate and take care of what needs to be done,” Romeo said.

Specialist Matthew Schweim, from Minneapolis, member of the maintenance platoon of Company E, gives credit to the platoon NCOs for establishing a good work environment.

“We have good leaders,” he said. “They can do all the redeployment duties and still help us study for the board, assist us in (physical training) and help out in the bay.”

The NCO’s work is reflected in the accomplishments of the platoon, most notably the recently created “Mechanic of the Quarter Board.” The 4-3rd Avn. Regt. maintenance battalion has won all three boards they participated in.

 “I couldn’t have asked for a better group,” Jeannotte said. “No section outshines the other. All of them are equally good. I can’t give credit to one section.”

Staff Sergeant Seneca Thomas, unscheduled-maintenance NCO, agrees, saying no section within the platoon boasts itself against the others.

“We’re all just one team,” Thomas said, from Fairfax, S.C. “We don’t brag.”