Vehicle maintainers keep the fleet rolling

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Emerald Ralston
  • 341st Space Wing Public Affairs Office
MALMSTROM AIR FOCE BASE, Mont. --  The 341st Logistics Readiness Squadron's Vehicle Maintenance Section is responsible for 780 vehicles at Malmstrom. That is a $3.8 million fleet - and a massive responsibility.
Vehicle maintenance is also responsible for a more valuable asset - the people operating those 780 vehicles.

"Our job is important because when we're working on our vehicles we have the lives of everyone who will be in those vehicles in our hands" said Master Sgt. Darrell Stegman, vehicle management superintendent. "If we mess up and don't put a tire on the right way and a tire falls off, it could kill someone. Also, if someone gets stranded out in the missile field, someone is going to have to be there to help them get to shelter."

Making sure things don't go wrong, figuring out what happened when something does go wrong, fixing it and ensuring the routine maintenance of all vehicles is the main mission of vehicle maintenance. Or, put more simply, 'you break 'em, we fix 'em.'

With so many vehicles to work on, vehicle maintenance is made up of many different areas.

The material control section orders supplies, vehicle parts, chemicals and tools. Customer service checks in around 30 vehicles each week, inspects them and checks fluids and tires. This section also does minor maintenance and provides quality control inspections for all work that leaves the shop.

In the general purpose shop, vehicle maintainers work on engines and transmissions, among other things.

"We inspect the vehicles, make sure nothing is wrong with them and fix whatever is wrong to the best of our abilities," said Staff Sgt. Sean Birdsell, heavy vehicle mechanic. "We generally have five vehicles leave the shop per day. It all depends. One day we could have one vehicle leave the shop or seven."

Only 16 people work in the general purpose shop, as some are currently deployed.

The tires and diagnostics shop also varies in the number of vehicles they work on daily.

"We change tires, make sure everything on periodic maintenance trailers are the right load range and correct size," said Senior Airman Judson Andrews, vehicle equipment journeyman. "We work on forklifts and other vehicles as well."

Current staffing in the machine shop is 10 active-duty members and two Guard members.

"We work on all special-purpose vehicles in the machine shop," said Tech. Sgt. Donald Peckat. "That includes snow equipment, anything from auger trucks to forklifts - pretty much anything that isn't a car or truck."

"In a single day we probably work on six to eight vehicles," said Sergeant Peckat. "It's mostly scheduled maintenance, but we'll work things like fuel system malfunctions and small machine work. In the summer we refurbish all the snow equipment for the next season. Our job is keeping the fleet operational."

The trucks and trailers section maintains all semi-trucks and trailers on base. They are responsible for the tractor fleet and 341st Missile Operations Squadron vehicles. "We make sure the missile trailers get out and back each day," said Tech. Sgt. Michael Langley. This section generally maintains two trailers each day.

The body shop does mainly cosmetic work on the vehicles, as well as replacing seatbelts and other safety restraints in vehicles. Mobile maintenance takes care of vehicles in the field that are low on oil, need to be jump-started or vehicles that simply break down on the road.

"This job is very challenging because you have so many drivers and so many vehicles that you have to put the puzzle together to find out what happened each time something goes wrong," Sergeant Stegman said. "But the day-to-day challenges are the best part of the job."