US, Ghanaian forces enhance maintenance capacity

Courtesy Photo | Sergeant Kevin Vicario gives a class to service members with the Ghanaian Armed Forces on motor transportation maintenance based topics during a theater security cooperation engagement in Ghana, Dec. 1, 2014. Vicario, a Tampa, Fla., native is part of a Mobile Training Team with SPMAGTF Crisis Response-Africa and is working alongside the Ghanaian Armed Forces to help enhance motor transportation maintenance and basic daily operations to include safety, records management, parts procurement and parts accountability. (Courtesy photo)  

GHANA

12.02.2014

Story by Cpl. Shawn Valosin 

U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Europe and Africa     

GHANA - Marines with SPMAGTF Crisis Response - Africa are conducting a maintenance training engagement with noncommissioned officers of the Ghanaian Armed Forces, Nov. 30, 2014.

The Marines of the Mobile Training Team will work with partner militaries to enhance motor transportation maintenance and basic daily operations to include safety, records management, parts procurement, and parts accountability.

“Our intent partnering with Ghana is to start at a basic entry level, covering what preventative maintenance procedures are and how to perform them correctly,” said Gunnery Sgt. Eric M. Brancheau the senior enlisted leader of the MTT.

“We will build from monthly checks, like oil maintenance and leaks, into electrical systems and what to look for if your vehicle won’t start,” said the Woodhaven, Mich., native.

While in Ghana, the Marines will conduct classroom instruction, followed by a practical application portion which will include disassembling engines into compound parts for additional diagnosis and repair as needed.

“We’re going to explain to them how we do maintenance in the Marine Corps and then the Ghanaians will explain to us how they do it, then we’ll come together and figure out the best way to conduct maintenance procedures, because they have different resources than we do,” said Sgt. Kevin Vicario, a Tampa, Fla., native and Marine with the MTT.

“The goal is to improve readiness and overall knowledge about maintenance procedures to make them more proficient while simultaneously continuing relations between the Ghanaian Armed Forces and the U.S. military,” said Vicario.

Marines with SPMAGTF-CR-AF conduct security cooperation missions through military-to-military engagements to assist partner nations in addressing security challenges.

• Date Taken: 12.02.2014
• Date Posted: 12.02.2014 04:04
• Story ID: 149152
• Location: GH
• Hometown: TAMPA, FL, US
• Hometown: WOODHAVEN, MI, US