HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Aaron Shadle is helping build a vehicle that could save the life of his brother, a Navy SEAL who had been stationed in Iraq
Shadle is a supervisor at Plouse Machine Shop in Swatara Township, Pa., that is making up to 200 parts for the military's fleet of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, known as MRAPs.
The mine-resistant vehicles are designed to give military personnel more protection from improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. Defense Department officials have said IEDs have caused 63 percent of U.S. combat deaths in Iraq.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has called mine-resistant vehicles the department's highest equipment priority.
Plouse makes the parts as a subcontractor to BAE Systems, an international defense contractor. The parts made by Plouse and other companies are delivered to a BAE plant in West Manchester Township near York, where BAE assembles the mine-resistant vehicles. BAE also assembles the vehicles at a plant in Michigan.
Shadle, 30, of Halifax, was a Navy radioman from 1995 to 1997. He has worked at Plouse almost two years.
Shadle's brother Brett is a Navy SEAL. Brett has served in Iraq and expects to return to the country, his brother said.
''Very well he could be traveling in the vehicles we are building,'' Aaron Shadle said.
Plouse Machine Shop, marking its 50th year in business, is making parts for 50 to 100 companies at any given time, said Dave Smith, sales manager. The deal for parts for the mine-resistant vehicle is the biggest contract the company has had, said Smith, who would not disclose the value of the contract.
Company President Dale Seitz said Plouse started working for the military around 2000 as a subcontractor to United Defense Industries Inc., which had owned the York County plant.
Plouse made brackets to attach armor plates to the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
Seitz said the relationship continued after BAE Systems acquired United Defense Industries in 2005. Plouse began making parts for the mine-resistant vehicles last summer.
BAE is among several companies that have been awarded contracts to make the mine-resistant vehicles. BAE so far has been awarded about $627 million in contracts for mine-resistant vehicles, and the work will continue through at least the first three months of 2008, the company said.
Plouse has nearly 65 workers.
''We've probably added about 10 employees'' to keep up with the mine-resistant vehicle work, Seitz said.
Plouse often must have parts made and delivered within a week of getting an order from BAE. The normal turnaround for Plouse's other contracts is four to eight weeks.
The Plouse contract has generated work for other local companies. Seitz said Plouse has probably hired at least a dozen midstate companies, not counting material suppliers, as subcontractors.
''We've hired special couriers to bring up supplies from Florida so we can have them here the next day,'' Seitz said.
Smith described how making a tire bracket provides business for Plouse and five other local companies:
- One subcontractor cuts the form with a laser, and then the part goes to Plouse for machining.
- Plouse sends the part to a certified welder.
- The welder sends the part to another company for tempering.
- The part returns to Plouse, where another company hired by Plouse does an inspection to check for cracks or gaps from the weld.
- Plouse sends out the part for painting before it goes to BAE.
Paul Edwards, a Plouse employee who lives near Elizabethtown, helps keep his co-workers supplied with materials.
Edwards wears a rumpled desert camouflage military hat from when he served in Desert Storm with the National Guard's 121st Transportation Company in Lebanon. He and other truck drivers tried to keep up with the 3rd Armored Division to resupply the unit with ammunition.
''There were cluster bombs on the road, so we couldn't drive on the hard surface. It took us seven and a half days to go 193 miles,'' said Edwards, 50.
He hopes what he is doing will make the going a little better for those in the field now.
''I've got a relationship with those guys. It's still a part of me even though I'm retired,'' he said. ''The better the equipment is the safer our people will be. That could be me over there.”
