Courtesy Photo | TAJI MILITARY COMPLEX, Iraq – Scattered aircraft parts line the drawer of a tool...... read more read more
TAJI MILITARY COMPLEX, Iraq – Conex upon conex upon conex painted the walls of the 1st Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment’s technician supply area of operations after the 449th Combat Aviation Brigade took command of the Taji Military Complex airfield in Iraq resulting in the need to initiate Operation Clean Sweep in Nov. 2017.
Operation Clean Sweep was led by technician supply personnel Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jessika Defreitas and Staff Sgt. Melissa Waite to consolidate and re-organize damaged, unserviceable and excess aircraft parts resulting in the turn-in of 3,262 pieces of equipment costing $50,868,538.
Tech supply acts as a small version of a Supply Support Activity, which houses all maintenance parts and equipment needed for aircraft operations and repairs.
“If we can’t supply the mechanics the parts they need to fix the aircraft, then we have no aircraft to complete our missions,” said Defreitas. “Tech supply plays a big role in ensuring the mission does get complete.”
Defreitas said the tech supply process and management didn’t meet the standards for an efficient workflow. It took clerks 45 to 90 minutes to locate parts, if they were even found.
“Clean sweep became [the mission] to get tech supply up to what it was supposed to look like; figuring out what parts we need here and ensuring we have the quantities,” said Defreitas. “In the process of doing that, it was getting rid of unserviceable parts left by previous units.”
Upon arrival Defrietas reviewed all items on-hand in the Supply Module Unit Level Logistics System – Aviation (Enhanced), which is used to organize and list all parts tracked by their nomenclature available within the facility.
Although this was a massive task to complete Waite admitted that the team was ready to overcome the obstacle in front of them.
“We were ready to see the change because its frustrating as an NCO and even more frustrating for the maintainers, the battalion commander and supply clerks to come out and request a part knowing that the part they need is somewhere, but you cannot physically find it, and it’s not in the system,” said Waite.
In order to tackle this task, this two-man team expanded with the support of their leadership. Defreitas said that she requested four people and received six Automated Logistical Specialists who knew their job, and how to operate in an SSA.
“They came in motivated and ready to work,” said Defreitas. “They took a lot of ownership when they got here. We found everything: truck parts, boat parts, nuclear biological chemical masks and parts of aircraft we don’t fly anymore in the military.”
Slowly the team worked through the clutter organizing and categorizing as they went. Waite said they were turning in 30 or more excess or unserviceable parts every day to the Taji SSA and thanked them for their patience throughout the process.
“There were parts everywhere,” said Waite. “We called it ‘Narnia’ because you didn’t know what was out there. We started slowly getting into the Narnia piles and just chipped away a little bit at a time.”
Procurement and re-distribution of parts is also an important part of the re-organization process. Establishing a working relationship with not only internal units but outlining locations in Iraq and Kuwait started an effective swapping of equipment and parts in various locations.
“Its almost like the circle of life for the aviation world,” said Waite. “The flight crews fly the aircraft and when it gets back it requires maintenance. Now its in the mechanics hands to fix. They need a part to fix the aircraft and if its not available then we start our circle to procure that part for them. We hand that part to the mechanic and the circle starts all over again.”
The National Defense Strategy for the Army is shaping a more ready, modern and lethal force. Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Mark Milley recently highlighted “our priorities remain to increase readiness, modernize the force and reform the Army; the aim of the latter being to save time, money and manpower that can be reinvested back into our first two priorities.”
| Date Taken: | 06.06.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 06.12.2018 02:30 |
| Story ID: | 280574 |
| Location: | IQ |
| Web Views: | 86 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, OPERATION CLEAN SWEEP IN EFFECT, by SFC Leticia Samuels, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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