An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Getting from point A to point B needs Vehicle Maintenance

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Stacy Fowler
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq --  When you first walk into the 332nd Expeditionary Logistics Squadron Vehicle Management Flight at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, one of the first things you'll notice are Airmen in grease-covered overalls half- under the hood of a truck, arms-deep into a door or under a panel, or a pair of boots peeking out from beneath the undercarriage of a stricken Humvee.

"Our vehicle maintainers are trained on all aspects of vehicle maintenance," said Chief Master Sgt. William Valenti, 332 ELRS vehicle fleet manager. "My Airmen are good at what they do because this is the job they were trained for, and like every Airman in every Air Force Specialty Code, they are proud to serve and be a part of history."

With more than 1,300 vehicles on Balad and only about 70 Airmen to take care of them all, the crews at Vehicle Maintenance are kept busy. From MRAPs to buses, aircraft cargo loading vehicles, dump trucks, passenger trucks and vans, if it has wheels and doesn't fly there is a good chance Vehicle Maintenance will work on it.

"On average we get up to 17 jobs a day, including our mobile maintenance calls," said Staff Sgt. Darnelle Minnick, 332 ELRS Vehicle Maintenance Customer Service dayshift NCO in charge. "If needed, we can strip a vehicle down to its frame and build it back up again. We can swap out anything from light bulbs to engines."

This is mainly due to the harsh environment these vehicles work in day after day.

"The roads here are ruthless," said Sergeant Minnick, a native of Philadelphia, Penn., deployed from the 628th Logistics Readiness Squadron, Joint Base Charleston, S.C. "We go through tires quickly here because the paving in some areas is not that great; not to mention the dust storms which can clog up vehicles' air filters and the air conditioning evaporators."

And if you have a chip in your windshield get it to maintenance now, said Sergeant Minnick, "the heat can turn a small chip into a side-to-side crack quickly."

The amount of time needed for each job varies, ranging from a 30-minute windshield chip repair to a multi-day engine or transmission replacement. It all depends on what is needed to complete the repairs, and whether or not parts need to be ordered.

"We're not at home where there's a Napa or Autozone five minutes away; we work hard to complete a quick and thorough turnaround for vehicles," said Sergeant Minnick. "This is why we have what we call bench stock of more commonly-used parts like light bulbs, wiper blades and starters. If we have to order parts, repairs will take longer because we have to wait for the parts to come in. But once the parts are in we will work fast to get repairs complete."

One thing that the vehicle maintainers don't do is take a vehicle, then have it "sit around" waiting for repairs.

"I tell my customers all the time: vehicle maintainers want to fix your truck - we don't want to take it from you and let it sit," said Chief Valenti, deployed from the 341 LRS, Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mt. "Getting a vehicle back on the road is a team effort starting with my vehicle management and analysis personnel, working through my materiel controllers for parts, and ending with the efforts of the actual wrench turners."

So when there are rattling sounds coming from under the hood or the air conditioning no longer cools, get with your vehicle control officer and get that vehicle to maintenance. Continuing to use a vehicle that's not functioning well or having problems can turn a 30-minute job of changing out plugs or filters into a seven-day complete engine change out, said Sergeant Minnick.

Helping units help themselves with their vehicle fleet is the name of the game for 332 ELRS Vehicle Maintenance - and the vehicle maintainers are not afraid to get dirty to prove it.

"The Vehicle Management Flight has always demonstrated a positive 'can do' attitude, and we are here to solve problems," said Chief Valenti. "All we want is to get you back in your vehicle again so you can accomplish your own important mission in our great Air Force."