thedrifter
04-06-08, 06:12 AM
MCLB takes maintenance show on road
A Mobile Maintenance Team leaves Monday from Albany’s Marine base to visit several Florida Marine Reserve sites.
JOSHUA BROWN joshua.brown@albanyherald.com
MCLB-ALBANY — A dozen Marines and civilian workers based at Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany loaded tractor-trailers with tools and equipment Thursday for a pilot program to provide maintenance work to the nation’s Marine Reserve sites.
The crew of 12 — two Marines and 10 civilian workers at Maintenance Center Albany — will leave Monday to visit four Florida Reserve sites to provide “preventive maintenance,” such as oil changes, on the reserves’ ground units, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Eric Gilmer said.
The Mobile Maintenance Team is a pilot program and may be expanded if Marine Reserve officials determine the program is helpful, Gilmer said.
In January, Marine Forces Reserves asked Logistics Command for help in maintaining its ground equipment. Because reservists have only about 39 training days a year, preventive maintenance for their equipment has to be crammed into already-packed schedules, Gilmer said.
“They do the same thing the active-duty guys do but they have to crunch it. There’s very little wrench-turning time for them out there,” he said. “We’re just filling in the gaps; we’re not going out there to take anybody’s job away from them.”
The convoy Thursday included two tractor-trailers, one full of toolboxes (which were full of tools) and the other loaded with a mobile tool room. A mobile lubrication delivery system and two vans are also part of the convoy.
Because this trip is a test run — or a Proof of Principle, as the Marines call it — Marine Reserve officials will meet with the Mobile Maintenance Team officials after the trial period is over to determine how well the program worked and find out what “lessons were learned” about its operation, Gilmer said.
But he’s confident the reservists will be pleased with the work done by the Maintenance Center mechanics.
“We’re going to do well,” he said. “We’re set up to do well, we’re set up for success.”
The Marines and civilians will wind their way through four Florida reserve sites — in Hialeah, West Palm Beach, Tampa and Orlando — to work on ground equipment such as tactical wheeled vehicles, amphibious assault vehicles and engineering/construction vehicles, Gilmer said.
If the program is expanded, its headquarters would likely be stationed at MCLB-Albany, he said. An expanded program would provide preventive maintenance to 15,000 pieces of equipment scattered across 185 Marine Reserve sites.
Directives given by Logistics Command indicated MMTs would visit each site every 18-24 months, Gilmer said.
Jimmy Bence, a Leesburg resident employed as a civilian worker at Maintenance Center Albany, said he volunteered for the project because the team needed an electrician.
“It sure helps the Marines. Most of the reservists are on deployment and don’t get a chance to work on the equipment,” he said. “I think it’s going to be really successful.
“We’ve planned up pretty good for it, and we’ve got a variety of different maintenance experts.”
Cpl. Ricky Louider, the supply officer for the mission, said he was picked for the duty of issuing parts.
“This team is going to help them do their preventive maintenance,” he said. “Some of those vehicles are really old and they need maintenance to be done to them.”
In preparing the MMT, Gilmer said he pulled on his Marine field experience. The Mobile Maintenance Team should be back home by May 21, he said.
Ellie
A Mobile Maintenance Team leaves Monday from Albany’s Marine base to visit several Florida Marine Reserve sites.
JOSHUA BROWN joshua.brown@albanyherald.com
MCLB-ALBANY — A dozen Marines and civilian workers based at Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany loaded tractor-trailers with tools and equipment Thursday for a pilot program to provide maintenance work to the nation’s Marine Reserve sites.
The crew of 12 — two Marines and 10 civilian workers at Maintenance Center Albany — will leave Monday to visit four Florida Reserve sites to provide “preventive maintenance,” such as oil changes, on the reserves’ ground units, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Eric Gilmer said.
The Mobile Maintenance Team is a pilot program and may be expanded if Marine Reserve officials determine the program is helpful, Gilmer said.
In January, Marine Forces Reserves asked Logistics Command for help in maintaining its ground equipment. Because reservists have only about 39 training days a year, preventive maintenance for their equipment has to be crammed into already-packed schedules, Gilmer said.
“They do the same thing the active-duty guys do but they have to crunch it. There’s very little wrench-turning time for them out there,” he said. “We’re just filling in the gaps; we’re not going out there to take anybody’s job away from them.”
The convoy Thursday included two tractor-trailers, one full of toolboxes (which were full of tools) and the other loaded with a mobile tool room. A mobile lubrication delivery system and two vans are also part of the convoy.
Because this trip is a test run — or a Proof of Principle, as the Marines call it — Marine Reserve officials will meet with the Mobile Maintenance Team officials after the trial period is over to determine how well the program worked and find out what “lessons were learned” about its operation, Gilmer said.
But he’s confident the reservists will be pleased with the work done by the Maintenance Center mechanics.
“We’re going to do well,” he said. “We’re set up to do well, we’re set up for success.”
The Marines and civilians will wind their way through four Florida reserve sites — in Hialeah, West Palm Beach, Tampa and Orlando — to work on ground equipment such as tactical wheeled vehicles, amphibious assault vehicles and engineering/construction vehicles, Gilmer said.
If the program is expanded, its headquarters would likely be stationed at MCLB-Albany, he said. An expanded program would provide preventive maintenance to 15,000 pieces of equipment scattered across 185 Marine Reserve sites.
Directives given by Logistics Command indicated MMTs would visit each site every 18-24 months, Gilmer said.
Jimmy Bence, a Leesburg resident employed as a civilian worker at Maintenance Center Albany, said he volunteered for the project because the team needed an electrician.
“It sure helps the Marines. Most of the reservists are on deployment and don’t get a chance to work on the equipment,” he said. “I think it’s going to be really successful.
“We’ve planned up pretty good for it, and we’ve got a variety of different maintenance experts.”
Cpl. Ricky Louider, the supply officer for the mission, said he was picked for the duty of issuing parts.
“This team is going to help them do their preventive maintenance,” he said. “Some of those vehicles are really old and they need maintenance to be done to them.”
In preparing the MMT, Gilmer said he pulled on his Marine field experience. The Mobile Maintenance Team should be back home by May 21, he said.
Ellie