CONTINGENCY OPERATING STATION GARRYOWEN, Iraq – Being deployed is a sacrifice many Soldiers must endure while serving their country. While deployed, Soldiers miss their families and friends, home-cooked meals and the small comforts of life.
Fourteen Soldiers from 2nd Platoon, 488th Quartermaster Company from Fort Polk, La., are taking care of one of our smallest comforts of life – clean clothes.
These Soldiers make it their mission to provide the best laundry service possible to all the Soldiers and civilians stationed and attached to Contingency Operating Station Garryowen.
“We work hard to provide a 24-hour turnaround service for the Soldiers because we understand they are out there executing their missions and the last thing they need to worry about is having a clean uniform for the next day,” said Staff Sgt. Aundra Wesley, a laundry and shower noncommissioned officer from Mobile, Ala.
The laundry facility here washes and folds an average of 2,200 pounds of clothes per day to support the Soldiers and civilians living on COS Garryowen. To accomplish this task, the laundry facility utilizes the Laundry Advance System. The LADS consists of two laundry drums and water processing equipment within an 8’x8’x20’ frame, a fuel tank, a storage container and a generator mounted on a trailer.
It washes the laundry, extracts water and dries the laundry in the same drum. The laundry water is recycled and reused via a distillation process to minimize water consumption and wastewater generation.
“I’ve worked with the LADS for two years and I am still learning its complexity,” said Sgt. Alicia Goodman, a laundry and shower noncommissioned officer from Baker, Fla. “It is a very efficient and water-saving piece of equipment.”
The 14 Soldiers from 2nd Platoon, 488th Quartermaster Co. will be in COS Garryowen until next spring. In the meantime they will continue the tradition of Soldiers taking care of Soldiers. “I am personally thankful that 488th is here providing us with laundry services; it’s a small comfort that we take for granted back home but greatly appreciate while deployed,” said Spc. Ashley Stapleton, a medic assigned to Co. E, 121st Brigade Support Battalion, from Knoxville, Tenn.
