| SATHER AIR BASE, Iraq, May 16, 2006 — Working on vehicles in the desert presents challenges. Mechanics sometimes have to scrape off layers of dirt and mud just to get to the broken part. Then there’s the parts problem —they can't simply call an automotive supply store in Baghdad to deliver a part. “Back home, you could look in a book and order a part. Not here,” said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. John Henderson, 447th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron Vehicle Maintenance Flight fleet manager. It might take a month to get a part through the military supply system, he said. But you wouldn’t know the flight faced these challenges with their vehicle in-commission rate of 96 percent, which is the percentage of more than 300 fleet vehicles that are operational.
“Awesome!” U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. John Henderson, describing the determination and dedication of his squadron mechanics
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With a team of mechanics whose rank is staff sergeant and below, their average experience level is about six years, said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Thomas Lytle, the flight’s superintendent. Couple this with the fact more than 40 percent of the mechanics are on their first deployment, the team’s success boils down to one thing, he said. “Enthusiasm and effort overcomes expertise 99 percent of the time. The (mechanics) constantly ask questions,” he said. The fleet includes rental cars, aircraft loaders, armored humvees, fire trucks and refueling vehicles. Although the U.S. Air Force fleet comprises a variety of vehicles and the mechanics have general mechanical experience, “You can’t imagine the diversity of the fleet here,” said Lytle. “(Most) of them are not experienced with such a diversified fleet,” he said. But they don’t let that stop them. If one mechanic has experience on a piece of equipment that others don’t, they teach the other mechanics. However, one mechanic said they sometimes must rely on their basic experience, common sense and step-by-step technical orders. “I know the concepts of how an engine works. If I know what (kind of vehicle) I’m working with, I can open the [technical orders] and fix it,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Oscar Figueroa, who’s deployed from Royal Air Force Mildenhall, England. “We will go and find a way to fix it,” he said. The deployed environment also takes its toll on vehicles with unpaved roads and thick, deep mud during the rainy winter. Besides having to sometimes scrape inches of dried mud to reach the part of the vehicle they suspect is the problem, they also respond to pull vehicles out of the mud. “We own a farm tractor. We have to rescue vehicles every time it rains because the mud is like clay,” Lytle said. “We pull out ‘old’ Betsy.” |
