Airmen keep wheels turning

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
  • 416th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
KARSHI-KHANABAD AIR BASE, Uzbekistan (AFPN) --  Aircraft loaders, Humvees and forklifts are just a few examples of the nearly 120 vehicles cared for here by maintainers with the 416th Expeditionary Mission Support Squadron’s vehicle maintenance flight.

Keeping the fleet in constant motion is a challenge for the flight’s five vehicle maintainers, said Tech. Sgt. Scott Rauscher, noncommissioned officer in charge of the flight. He is deployed from Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.

They have maintained a 96-percent vehicle-in-commission rate during the past four months.

“If you’re driving an Air Force vehicle (here), we fix it and maintain it,” Sergeant Rauscher said.

And they do so despite not having many of the luxuries found at vehicle maintenance shops at their home bases.

“At home we would have equipment such as lifts, a large wheel and tire machine and other equipment,” Sergeant Rauscher said. “It makes the job much more difficult not having that equipment here, but it gives us a chance to improvise, adapt and overcome many obstacles.”

Being in a deployed location is always a challenge for vehicle maintainers, said Staff Sgt. Brian Carter, NCO in charge of maintenance for refueling vehicles. He is deployed from Grand Forks AFB, N.D.

“You sometimes need to be really inventive when it comes to getting vehicles fixed and back to the user,” he said. “You have to get them back working as soon as possible.”

Timely maintenance is a goal all vehicle maintainers strive for, Sergeant Carter said. That is something he said he learned many deployments ago.

“I’ve deployed eight other times,” Sergeant Carter said. “I always learn more about the vehicle work I do on a daily basis when I’m deployed. I learn about vehicles I have never worked on in the past. I also learn a lot more about repairing vehicle parts instead of replacing them due to the time it takes to get new parts over here. The mission must go on, and that’s why I’m here.”

Sergeant Rauscher, who is on his fourth deployment, said vehicle maintainers always learn something new.

“This deployment has taught me a lot,” he said. “Having a technical sergeant in charge of a vehicle maintenance flight is almost unheard of. This is the most responsibility that I have ever taken on; however, it has been extremely rewarding.

“There are lots of challenges in a deployed environment,” he said. “I don’t think most people know that if, for example, a door handle breaks, we very well may have the part on hand. We can then turn the vehicle back to them as they wait, or, if we don’t have the part on hand, we can order the part … and give the vehicle back to them within a few minutes and then call the vehicle in for a quick repair when we do finally get the part in. It benefits us all to have vehicles out there completing the mission.”

Every vehicle or piece of equipment Airmen use daily here is fixed and kept running by vehicle maintainers, who, in a way, are the “engine” that keeps Air Force vehicles moving, Sergeant Carter said.

“The vehicles we care for get aircrews to the planes, fuel to the planes, transport people all around the base, (load) all the cargo to the planes, and the list goes on,” he said. “The point is, our wrench-turning is what keeps (the base’s) wheels turning.”