Army Engineers complete Jaji Bridge

PAKTYA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – U.S. Army Engineers completed construction of a bridge at Jaji, a small village in eastern Paktya Province near the Pakistan border Sept. 22.

Soldiers with the 70th Engineer Battalion stationed out of Fort Riley, Kan., emplaced a 110-foot bailey bridge in less than three days. 

“Our mission was to construct this bridge for the local population,” said Army Staff Sgt. Joseph Preski from Rome, N.Y., a squad leader in 2nd Platoon, Charlie Company, 70th Engineer Battalion.

The platoon pulled together and worked as a cohesive, well-oiled team to finish such a large bridge so quickly.

 “The bridge has a 60 military load classification [withstands 60 tons]. It is one car width and will last at least a year,” said Preski.

Every Soldier on the construction site knew exactly what their piece of the mission was and how they needed to accomplish that mission. 

“We trained for two and a half months on the bailey bridge,” said Army 1st Lt. Andrew Lowery, the platoon leader overseeing the bridge construction.  “We built the bridge over and over again in Bagram.”

The heaviest bridge parts weighed over 600 pounds and required teams of six to eight soldiers to lift them.  It is hard work, and takes a lot of man hours. 

Preski said the best part of building the bridge was “completing it.”  He also enjoyed building the catwalk, the walkway for personnel traffic- undeniably the lightest part of the bridge.

The site of the completed bridge lies in a valley. Just on the other side of the river, Soldiers of the 864th Eng. Bn. are building a small fire base for Coalition forces.  Without the bridge, it is almost impossible to get vehicles to the base. 

The crossing is also a prevalent supply route for Afghans.  Just a few miles away through the passes of the mountains lay the Pakistan border, where many Afghans conduct trade. 

“This route is impassable for the [Afghans] without this bridge.   It is both the main road to Pakistan [from this area] and the primary means for access to the firebase,” said Army Staff Sgt. David Austin from Charlotte, N.C., the platoon sergeant overseeing the construction at the firebase. 

Austin also built the abutments for the bridge.      

“The bridge will help the economy of the Afghan people by increasing their trade capability,” said Austin.

“It feels good to complete the bridge,” said Preski.

 

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