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380AEW Article

380th ELRS supplies security forces with new vehicles

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jeremy Larlee
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
Southwest Asia --  The 380th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron recently supplied the 380th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron with 13 reconditioned Humvees.

The vehicles will be invaluable to the security forces mission at this non-disclosed base.

Capt. Ernest Cage, 380th ELRS director of operations, said that the vehicles represented a 450 percent increase in vehicle capability for security forces. The native of Halifax, Va., said that they were better suited for the rough terrain that can be found on the outskirts of the base here.

Getting the Humvees was a process that stretched across a couple weeks, Captain Cage said.

"We tracked them as soon as they arrived into the port," he said. "After we got them here, we inspected the vehicles and made some minor maintenance fixes."

Some of the common problems fixed included the replacement of starters and lights, the captain said. One last important step was to properly license all of the vehicles.

Captain Cage said he was impressed with the end result.

"Our vehicle maintainers take a lot of pride in what they do," he said. "I feel it was important to provide the security forces these vehicles. We are able to rest comfortably at night because of all of the hard work our security forces personnel do."

Staff Sgt. James Stocklos, a security forces craftsman for the 380th ESFS, said the new vehicles would get a lot of use. The sergeant, deployed from the 56th Security Forces Squadron at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., said that he encounters a lot of rough terrain while performing patrols around the perimeter of the base.

The native of Malaga, N.J., said he wasn't surprised that the vehicle maintainers did a good job getting the Humvees ready for service.

"We have a good working relationship with the ELRS," he said. "Anytime we have problems with our vehicles we bring them in to get repairs, and they often fix them in minutes."

Captain Cage said this was a good example of how involved his squadron is in performing the mission here.

"ELRS has our hands in a little bit of everything," he said. "We are out here supporting the air tasking order and the operations support mission of the base. Our motto is that we are the key to airpower."

The captain said that the ELRS would continue to perform maintenance on the vehicles. He joked that sending the vehicles off was similar to sending your children into the world.

"It is kind of like sending your kid off to college," said Capt. Cage. "You know you will see them again, but you are not quite sure what kind of condition they will be in."