MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE ALBANY, Ga -- Reserve Marines from Detachment 2, 2nd Supply Company, 4th Fleet Service Support Group teamed up with Devildogs from Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany's Repairable Issue Point last week in an effort to inventory RIP gear and implement a new salvage mission."What the reserve Marines did, in conjunction with our Marines, was a wall-to-wall inventory of the entire warehouse. They set up locations for the gear in the computer system and then made sure it matched those locations out on the floor, said Master Sgt. Greg Taylor, Staff Non-Commissioned officer, RIP."If we had to do the inventory alone, it would have taken us at least a month," Taylor added. "The reservists helped us get it done in eight days."By helping RIP accomplish their mission, the "bonepickers" tackled a new one of their own."Last year we received guidance that our mission would begin including a greater deal of work in salvage," said Major Bohach, Commanding Officer, Detachment 2, 2nd Supply Company, 4th Fleet Service Support Group. "The salvage includes the recovery of gear, parts, or even whole vehicles, and the reintroduction of this gear back into the system. We're a supply detachment and salvage is part of supply. However this annual training was unique because we were able to validate our Standard Operating Procedures for salvage for the first time.According to Bohach, Salvage crews save the Marine Corps large sums of money each year by reintroducing serviceable gear that would otherwise be shipped to places like MCLB Albany's RIP."It costs a lot of money to ship gear back and forth overseas," Bohach said. The 300 containers that were recently shipped to RIP from Operation Iraqi Freedom provided us with an ideal opportunity to put our salvage SOP into action. "To develop a warehouse you have to know what gear you have and then you have to consolidate that gear." "Only then can you start shipping gear in and out. Our guys were able to do the most basic steps of salvage while helping RIP accomplish their mission," Bohach said.Reservists who participated in the training exercise said they could see a difference after less than a week of dedicated labor."We took down palettes, arranged gear and tried to make things safer overall in the warehouse," said Lance Cpl. Matthew Short, supply clerk, Detachment 2, 2nd supply co., 4th Fleet Service Support Group. I had a good time and I'm glad we were able to help out as much as we did."The "bonepickers" not only tested their plan of action, they dominated. In less than six days, the reserves and active duty Marines processed approximately $45 million worth of inventory.Taylor said it was their teamwork and professionalism that put the "bonepickers" in a class all their own."They're professionals and they really didn't need a lot of supervision throughout the week," Taylor said. "Their work has made our locator system more accurate and helped us fill our back orders. This was a great team effort, and my Marines enjoyed working with them. We know that without their help we would have been really set back."