The 558th Transportation Company, 10th Transportation Battalion, 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary) hosted its first “Maintenance Rodeo” competition over Sept. 19-20.

The timed competition featured six stations covering the company’s various tasks, including engine maintenance, radio antenna assembly, welding and fabrication, weapons maintenance, vehicle recovery and vehicle preventative checks and maintenance.

As watercraft maintainers, the company’s soldiers possess a variety of military occupational specialties. Teams of soldiers from different specialties worked together at each station in order to broaden their maintenance knowledge.

“We wanted to have a culminating event to cross-train our soldiers,” said Army Capt. Lavina Jackson, 558th Transportation Company commander.

Jackson added, “We wanted to mix ‘back-to-basics’ skills with what each soldier might do on a daily basis. Depending on their MOS, they’ve never done some of these tasks before. We hope this exposure gives them a better idea of Army maintenance as a whole.”

The company organized familiarization and training sessions prior to the competition to better prepare the soldiers for tasks outside of their specialties. During the rodeo, instructors were available to assist the teams as needed.

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