Vehicle maintainers keep Balad moving

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Jim Randall
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) --  People here rely on hundreds of vehicles every day to accomplish the mission, and the Airmen of the 332nd Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron’s vehicle maintenance section are responsible for keeping those vehicles on the road.

“We have more than 800 vehicles in our fleet,” said Chief Master Sgt. Steven Chandler, vehicle management flight chief. “About 550 of those are military vehicles; the rest are leased.”

Since the majority of the fleet comprises military vehicles, it is especially important for vehicle operators to take good care of them.

“These are the only military vehicles we have, so we can’t afford to neglect them,” said Tech. Sgt. John Calsada, noncommissioned officer in charge of vehicle maintenance. “Simple things like checking tires, lights and fluids, can help them last longer and keep them safe to drive.”

With the harsh environment and the demand for vehicles here, 332nd ELRS maintainers and fleet managers stay very busy.

“The biggest challenge of working here is making sure that units get the support they need with the limited resources that we have available,” said Tech. Sgt. Miriam Alexander, a vehicle dispatcher.

Vehicle operations have three main sections: fleet management, vehicle maintenance and heavy equipment maintenance.

Dispatchers in the fleet management section make sure that units get the vehicles they need, facilitate cargo movement and make sure water gets delivered to the housing area. They also support transient aircrews, move medical patients from the Army’s passenger terminal to the Air Force Theater Hospital and provide vehicles for distinguished visitors.

In the vehicle maintenance section, mechanics repair and maintain vehicles like Humvees and the bobtails used to tow aircraft support equipment on the flightline.

Mechanics in the heavy equipment section repair and maintain refueling, firefighting and material-handling vehicles like K-loaders, firetrucks, tankers and forklifts.

“All the other missions here really depend on us, but the cargo mission is one of our most important,” Chief Chandler said. “Keeping fuel trucks and K-loaders moving is important, because (airlift) keeps a lot of convoys off the road. That makes for a safer operation.”

“It’s rewarding to work here because we help people and we enable everyone to accomplish the mission,” Sergeant Alexander said. “The bottom line is without us, nothing moves.”