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Vehicle maintenance keeping the wheels rolling

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Michael Means
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  If it has wheels, an engine and uses gasoline, the 380th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron vehicle maintenance crew here is more than likely responsible for all of its bumper to bumper maintenance.

"A lot of people don't realize all of the people involved in vehicle maintenance," said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Travis Funderburk, 380 ELRS vehicle management and analysis NCO in charge, deployed from Kadena Air Base, Japan. "Our team consists of five career fields working together to keep the fleet moving."

Fire truck technicians, refueling technicians, material handling equipment specialists,
general/special purpose vehicles technicians and vehicle management and analysis specialists make up the vehicle maintenance team. Together they manage and maintain all the vehicles and equipment here.

They do this by maintaining the base's government-leased vehicles to include coordinating their maintenance off base. The base's most critical assets, however, are kept close to home.

"The 380th offers a variety of vehicles and provides new challenges for us to broaden our technical capabilities," said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Michael Messinger, 380 ELRS vehicle maintenance technician, who is deployed from Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. "It is our mission here to provide a safe and serviceable fleet to meet the needs of the wing.

ELRS does their own inspections, diagnostics and repairs of every kind. Sometimes this means rebuilding entire vehicle components. All critical assets are maintained by vehicle maintenance minimizing the downtime of vehicles substantially.

"We support the 380 AEW mission," Messinger said. "Whether they are bombs, fuel, or office supplies, our fleet keeps them moving. Without wheels moving, our personnel and supplies, our mission would fail."

They maintain a variety of vehicles, including fire trucks, aircraft re-fuelers, forklifts, cargo loaders, and other general and special purpose vehicles. Whether the vehicles need an oil change, paint job or an engine rebuilt, vehicle maintenance keeps the ground equipment in the fight, supporting the mission.

"The flight has averaged over 89 percent mission capable rate over the past 12 months," said U.S. Air Force Maj. William Moncrieff, 380 ELRS director or operations. "This is an awesome accomplishment and showcases how dedicated the men and women of vehicle management are to supporting the 380 AEW mission.

The vehicle maintenance flight performs an average of 85 percent unscheduled maintenance and 15 percent scheduled each month.

U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Jeff Everson, 380th ELRS vehicle maintenance technician, deployed from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., said it is good to know that the vehicles and equipment they work on contribute to the success of the mission and the lessons learned from the people he works with and being able to apply them is awesome.

"Being in a deployed environment is very unique," said Moncrieff. We have Airmen deploying from multiple bases across the world and I am amazed at how quickly our vehicle maintenance team has come together to support the mission. They exemplify the AF core values of "Excellence in all we do!"