Logistics Airmen help save Air Force assets

Photo By Master Sgt. Evelyn Chavez | U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Marcin Vande Hei, 455th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron Central Command Materiel Recovery Element noncommissioned officer in charge guides a forklift May 2, 2014 at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan. Vande Hei, is part of a CMRE team that is responsible for identifying, storing and redeploying assets to the U.S. or disposing of items located throughout the region. The CMRE team has helped recover more than 60 pieces of equipment worth about $1.66 million within the last eight months. Vande Hei is a native of Washington, D.C. and is deployed from Langley Air Force Base, Va. (U.S. Air Force by Staff Sgt. Evelyn Chavez/Released)  

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AFGHANISTAN

05.06.2014

Story by Staff Sgt. Evelyn Chavez 

455th Air Expeditionary Wing   

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan - Equipment is important to help Airmen perform their daily mission, and a group of 455th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron Airmen here contributed their efforts to save millions of dollars worth of equipment as part of the Central Command Materiel Recovery Element team.

The CMRE team recovered Air Force Central Command assets worth an estimated $1.66 million by collecting and returning identified critical items such as generators, tents and heating and cooling systems, located throughout Afghanistan to their original destination.

“Our mission is to go around Bagram and all the yards, work with other units and collect Air Force assets” said Staff Sgt. Marcin Vande Hei, 455th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness CMRE noncommissioned officer in charge who is a native of Washington, D.C., and deployed from Langley Air Force Base, Va.

The process of identifying, storing, disposing and redeploying items to the U.S. is CMRE’s main mission. Over the years many valuable items have been used, moved and replaced. According to Vande Hei, the CMRE team work to make sure these assets are properly accounted for.

The team is primarily concerned with finding the assets here, and at the forward operating bases, then identifying which accounts they belong to.

The CMRE team does not act alone during the process. With the help of Army representatives, contractors, aerial porters and civil engineers they ensure the items are either returned to missions or shipped back to the U.S.

“At my base, I typically work at the aircraft parts shop, but here I have had the opportunity to work with people from different units to include the Army,” said Senior Airman Megan Hickey, 455th ELRS CMRE technician, who is a native of Glendale, Ariz., and from deployed Travis Air Force Base, Calif.

“We are able to work as a team and develop a joint relationship.”
Once the items team locates and identifies the item, they are stored until AFCENT provides disposition instructions. Upon receipt of the instructions, Vande Hei and his team prepare the equipment for movement after proper coordination.

Thanks to efforts of all those involved in the CMRE process, many basic expeditionary airfield resources are identified, collected, disposed of and returned.

The program has saved the Air Force from repurchasing these items.

“Right now we have shipped about a million dollars [worth of assets] back to the states, it helps the Air Force in terms of saving money and getting our items back where they belong,” said Vande Hei.

• Date Taken: 05.06.2014
• Date Posted: 05.06.2014 07:52
• Story ID: 128857
• Location: BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AF
• Hometown: GLENDALE, ARIZONA, US
• Hometown: WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US