Photo By Lance Cpl. Austin Goacher | Lance Cpl. Benjamin Marshall, a Kansas City, Mo., a mechanic with Marine Wing Support...... read more read more
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MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. – Marine Wing Support Squadron 373's motor transportation repair shop reached one of its highest vehicle availability ratings through the diligent work of Marines from the squadron.
The vehicle availability rating functions as a way to compare the number of vehicles in need of repair to those that are fully functional.
"When we came back from Iraq there was a vast amount of vehicles here that needed repairs," said Cpl. James West, a quality control Marine with the squadron. "When you get caught behind it takes a long time to catch up, so we were working extra hours, but now we are ahead of the game."
'Getting ahead of the game' helps keep the squadron prepared to deploy.
"The combat efficiency of the squadron is directly affected by us," said Staff Sgt. DevRee Barefield, the motor transport maintenance chief. "When vehicles are down they can't perform the jobs they were designed to do."
Mechanics in the shop work on a wide variety of vehicles including P-19 fire trucks, Humvees, MK-48 logistics vehicles systems and MK-970 trailers, explained Lance Cpl. John Sai, a mechanic in the shop.
The P-19 serves as an expeditionary fire truck, while the Humvee has the capability to serve as a transportation vehicle or a weapons platform. The MK-48 and its five accompanying trailers can recover disabled vehicles and transport supplies.
Along with performing annual and bi-annual preventative maintenance on the machines, the mechanics also make emergency repairs.
"When any piece of equipment goes to less than 50 percent availability we exhaust every means of operation before we leave the shop," said West. "Some equipment, like the P-19, has to be fixed immediately because of the job it performs."
The Marines of the transportation repair shop spend everyday trying to increase the percentage of vehicles available, explained Sai.
"The higher our percentage the better prepared the squadron will be for any situation," said Barefield.
The shop's current maintenance readiness percentage is 97 percent and the Marines work on more than 30 vehicles per month.
| Date Taken: | 12.06.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 12.06.2007 17:17 |
| Story ID: | 14495 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 535 |
| Downloads: | 494 |
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