KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – When 43rd Sustainment Brigade took over as the U.S. Central Command Materiel Recovery Element at Kandahar, Afghanistan, in February, vehicle maintenance status was reported to be more than 98 percent available.
As the maintenance section dug in though, they found that the numbers were misleading. Engineering equipment- such as forklifts and earth-moving equipment - was not listed on the report, skewing the numbers, according to Maj. Benjamin Rosario, officer in charge, support operations maintenance. Because the equipment was not accounted for, if any of it became inoperative, that did not reflect on the readiness report.
“When we looked at the [inoperative vehicle report] we discovered most of the vehicles that were deadlined were not added to the SAMS-E [Standard Army Maintenance System-Enhanced] box; that’s the system we use to follow the deadline reports,” said Rosario.
The unit is responsible for tracking more than 3,500 pieces of equipment belonging to three battalions, all with multiple companies, across the Afghanistan theater of operations. More than 750 of those pieces of equipment are vehicles, Rosario said.
One battalion’s fleet of vehicles consisted of 60 percent Navy equipment. Because the Navy uses different types of equipment, those vehicles were not put into the tracking system, according to Rosario. To fix the problem the maintenance section had to get creative.
“We had to find an Army equivalent and put that into the system,” said Rosario. “The Navy has 11K [thousand pound lift capability] forklifts and the Army uses 10K forklifts, so when we see a 10K forklift for [one of the engineer battalions] we know we’re talking about an 11K forklift.”
Tracking the vehicles was not the only problem; ordering replacement parts was also an issue.
“When we got here, the engineer fleet pretty much had nothing at the [supply support activity] for spare parts,” said Staff Sgt. Brian Blair, noncommissioned officer in charge, support operations maintenance, 43rd SB CMRE. “All of our parts were coming from Kuwait or the states.”
Parts are stocked in an SSA so they will be available when needed. The type and number of parts is controlled by an authorized stockage listing.
“We did an [authorized stockage listing] review … So we could start getting some of the engineer parts into the SSAs so we could have the parts locally,” said Blair.
The parts got added to the SSAs and have helped speed up the maintenance process, according to Blair.
“A lot of the stuff that goes down, we never see it on the [report] because they had the part on hand and got [the vehicle repaired] the same day,” he said.
Another issue that was slowing down repairs was the movement process, according to Rosario. When parts from one location were needed at another location, they almost always traveled by convoy.
Instead of the usual practice of shipping the parts by ground, Rosario and his team started ensuring the parts traveled by air, sending a soldier to hand carry or escort them if necessary. Parts now usually arrive in four to five days instead of taking as long as five to six weeks by ground.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jeremy Smith, maintenance technician, support operations maintenance, 43rd SB CMRE, is convinced that being proactive has been one of the keys to the section’s success.
“When we come up with a problem, we immediately start working on multiple solutions,” Smith said. “It’s helped us to save time, because that’s what it’s all about, minimizing downtime.”
Working well together and cross-training on each other’s duties has built a successful team, according to 1st Lt. Antoine Dawoud, deputy officer in charge, support operations maintenance, 43rd SB CMRE.
“It makes a difference when you work with a team that is helping each other out,” said Dawoud. “It makes a difference when they want to mentor you despite their rank or your rank. I came in here and they just took me under their wing.”
The maintenance section’s performance is indicative of the quality of the personnel and their work ethic, according to Col. Todd Heussner, commander, 43rd.
“We’ve got a quartermaster, a transportation officer, an electronics tech and a welder,” said Heussner. “Their ability to work outside their specialties is commendable.”
