U.S. Army’s 103rd Engineer Company Trains at Cat® Facility

Recently, the Tinaja Hills Demonstration and Learning Center had the opportunity to welcome 100 members of the United States Army's 103rd Engineer Company to the facility. The soldiers, based in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, are participating in military construction projects in Nogales, Arizona currently utilizing Cat® D6R and D7R track-type tractors .

Tinaja Hills has hosted tours for various Army units that rotate through the construction projects in Nogales for about two and-a-half years, when the Army unit came to Tinaja for site-specific safety training. The unit commander's objective for including a demonstration is to get the soldiers excited about the work they do and to see first hand the pride and professionalism of the people at Caterpillar.

The soldiers' most recent visit coincided with a full-line demonstration for customers from Park Construction and Ziegler Cat, a Midwestern Cat® dealer. The Army unit participated in the demonstration, which began with the soldiers marching in formation onto the floor of the general line, followed by a flag ceremony and the national anthem.

Also attending the demo were seven-year-old Samuel Duerkop and his family. Sam is absolutely crazy about Cat machines, and he was recently diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Working with Cat dealer Empire Machinery, Sam's family arranged to attend the full-line demonstration, and Sam rode in the buddy seat of a Cat 994 wheel loader during the demonstration.

A highlight of the day was when Sam and his four-year-old brother, Zach, were presented with patches worn in Iraq by the Joint Task Force-North (JTF-N) Engineers. Both Sam and Zach agreed, "This is the best day ever!"  Sam's father said, "It makes us smile to be reminded there are people in the world like the Caterpillar team at Tinaja Hills. Thank you for making our little boys' day!"