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INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana National Guard Soldiers use myriad types of equipment: from radios and guns to Humvees and trucks.
All that equipment is kept in tip-top shape by Soldiers who work full time in maintenance shops throughout the state. Soldiers in National Guard units across central Indiana rely on the Combined Support Maintenance Shop 1 in Indianapolis.
In September, that shop’s Soldiers took first place in medium-sized shops, 100 to 300 Soldiers, for National Guard maintenance shops.
Indiana’s Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger, recognized CSMS 1 Soldiers for their hard work and winning the U.S. Army Award for Maintenance Excellence.
“Think about it, think about how many pieces of moving equipment, rifles all the way to every piece of equipment we have to operate, you guys and gals keep it at an unbelievable readiness level,” said Umbarger. “I’m proud of every one of you. I know how hard you work here each and every day at CSMS, and I can’t express my appreciation to you enough.”
For the shop’s Soldiers winning the award and being recognized by the U.S. Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Raymond T. Odierno and Sgt. Maj. of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III, meant a lot.
“I think it instills a lot of pride, and it shows that our hard work and dedication that we come to everyday really pays off in the end,” said Sgt. Tabbitha Dixon, a production controller at the shop. “We won a national award. We’re in the spotlight. We’re getting praise for it, and it shows that our work doesn’t go unnoticed.”
Dixon was one of three Soldiers from the shop who traveled to Washington when Odierno recognized the Indiana National Guard maintenance shop at the Pentagon.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I’ll never forgot,” said Dixon. “I enjoyed it the whole time. I was smiling ear to ear.”
Other Soldiers within the shop agreed that the Indiana National Guard maintainers deserved the award and the recognition.
“It shows we’re committed to excellence, not only in maintenance but also how we do everyday processes,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Wendy Robinson, CSMS 1 assistant shop supervisor. “The award is for maintenance excellence, but to win, to earn that award you have to maintain a high standard of excellence in all your daily processes – everything from checking in a piece of equipment, to finishing it up, to getting the equipment back to the customer.”
The Soldiers of CSMS 1 competed against six other shops regionally, then against seven nationally. Of those seven, the Army chose three shops to visit and then ultimately choose the winner.
“Winning the AAME instills esprit de corps, while striving for excellent in maintenance management and customer support,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Ronald L. Baird Jr., the CSMS 1 superintendent.
Robinson explained that the Army evaluators who visited in March randomly asked questions of the maintenance Soldiers.
“You can hardly prepare for the site visit,” said Robinson. “You don’t know what they’re going to ask; you don’t know what they’re gonna have you show them. They have you demonstrate stuff; they don’t just ask yes or no questions. All of our Soldiers did an excellent job that day.”
Having a reliable and outstanding maintenance shop means Soldiers can count on their gear to work properly when needed and depend on maintenance shops for support.
“There’s nothing worse than trying to go to weapons qual on a Saturday morning and only 60 percent of your vehicles start, and it takes six hours to make a 2-hour drive to Camp Atterbury,” said Robinson.
The maintainers at CSMS 1 kept units of the Indiana National Guard communicating, firing and rolling along. Just like in the Army song.
Significant Stats for 2013:
Completed 5,052 work orders
Maintained an operational readiness rate of 97.9 percent for supported customers
Received “Commendable” rating on safety inspection
Ranked in top 25 percent for the Army Readiness Assessment Program
Performed 543 Transportation Missions moving 2,626 pieces of equipment
Cost savings of $75,000 by recycling materials
| Date Taken: | 10.07.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.09.2014 10:12 |
| Story ID: | 144722 |
| Location: | INDIANAPOLIS, IN, US |
| Web Views: | 93 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Indiana maintenance shop achieves Army excellence, by MSG Jeff Lowry, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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