Rough conditions take their toll on vehicles

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Jon Hanson
  • 407th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
ALI BASE, Iraq (AFPN) --  Vehicles -- everybody needs one, everybody wants one. But without proper upkeep, they break. That is where the mechanics with the 407th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron’s vehicle maintenance flight come in.

The flight’s 27 technicians and two supply Airmen maintain about 400 vehicles here. The rough terrain, dust and hard use can take its toll on the vehicles.

“The majority of our time is spent repairing the up-armored Humvee for the 407th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron,” said Master Sgt. Don Hall, squadron vehicle manager. “The terrain is very hard on these assets which require a great deal of attention to the steering and front and rear suspension systems. 

“The workload has been steady at an average of 1,700 repairs monthly which requires 100-percent effort from all the technicians 24/7,” said Sergeant Hall, who is deployed here from Kadena Air Base, Japan.

The mechanics can’t fix the vehicles without having the parts and supplies to do their job.

During this rotation the vehicle supply specialists organized all of the parts on stock. Before the parts were scattered and took a while to find. With almost 20,000 parts worth nearly $1.2 million this was a daunting task.

“No one knew what we had,” Sergeant Hall said. “We now have full accountability and all of the (region) knows what we have. So, if another base needs a part that we have they can give us a call and we can get it to (the traffic management office) and then to them.”

Being deployed in Iraq not only takes its toll on the vehicles but it makes the job more difficult for the mechanics. Having limited resources such as tools, equipment and parts requires good skills and sometimes ingenuity.

“It makes us have to use the knowledge and (equipment) we have on hand to make things work,” said Staff Sgt. Shawn Reed, also deployed from Kadena. “It may not be the (normal) way to repair things but as long as it is safe, serviceable and can support its mission, we ‘git-r-done’.”

Replacing one part might mean the mechanic has to take several parts off a vehicle just to get to the defective one. This can be a challenging task.

“You have to remember where you took the parts off so you can put them back,” said Staff Sgt. Shane Chandler, a mechanic deployed from Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. “It’s like a big puzzle. The hardest part is getting some of the bolts out. They are often very hard to see or reach, and you have to remove components to just get to them.”

Fellow mechanic Staff Sgt. Rick Adams agreed.

“I had to replace a flywheel in a Humvee,” said Sergeant Adams, a mechanic from the Pennsylvania Air National Guard's 171st Air Refueling Wing. He has been fixing vehicles for 30 years. “You have to pull the transfer case and the transmission out, along with the drive shafts. It takes a lot of time.”

The causes of vehicle problems aren’t always easy to figure out and often take a long time just to find the defective part.

“My first week here I was tasked to fix a 60,000-pound aircraft loader with a locked up drive axle,” Sergeant Reed said. “It took a couple of days of troubleshooting and talking to the company on the phone to narrow it down to something as simple as a stuck valve. It sure raised my experience level and knowledge on this particular vehicle.

“I also worked on a 1,000-gallon water distribution truck and (needed to) change the tank and pumping system to make it serviceable. I had to procure the missing piping from the civil engineer plumbing shop and adapt it to connect the tank to the pump of the truck.”

But, despite the Iraqi environment many of the problems can be prevented or minimized just by taking care of the vehicle.

“Vehicle operators should treat their (government) or leased vehicle as if it were their own,” Sergeant Hall said. “This way you can ensure less mechanical problems will occur. Besides that, your tax dollars are paying for all these vehicles anyway so you do own a small part of it. Just simply take care of it and it will take care of you and your mission.”