Photo By Capt. Monika Comeaux | Spc. Tory A. Shumar, an all wheel mechanic with the motorpool of Headquarters and...... read more read more
The motorpool of Headquarters and Headquarters Company of 3rd Corps Support Command is alive on Tuesdays. It's the designated command maintenance day, when operators and vehicles pay a visit to the mechanics and prescribed load list clerks.
HHC takes this task so seriously that the first sergeant checks over and dispatches his own vehicle, and on Tuesdays, the company executive officer spends his whole day in the motor pool.
The 15 Soldiers who work in the motor pool provide maintenance for nearly 100 vehicles, and the numbers are still growing, said Staff Sgt. Samuel J. Lee, an HHC light-wheel vehicle mechanic from the motor pool. In addition to the vehicles of HHC, the motor pool oversees the dispatching and maintenance for the vehicles of six other units.
Sgt. Anthony Nichols works on as many as five vehicles a day. "I know the job of the 62B [light-wheel vehicle mechanic], just as well as my primary MOS, which is generator mechanic," Nichols said proudly.
He cross-trained himself and claims to know everything there is to know about humvees. He is also in charge of three Soldiers, teaching and mentoring them every step of the way, as they gain more experience and become better mechanics.
The crew spends long hours in the motor pool. Although their official hours for customer service are 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., they stay as long as they need to, to assist other Soldiers to accomplish their mission. On Tuesdays they open at 8 a.m. for command maintenance.
Lee said that his Soldiers are "motivated and wanting to learn."
Sgt. 1st Class Keith L. Godley, the G-4 logistics management NCO is a regular customer in the motor pool. He works with the same people back home; they deployed together.
"I think we have a very good working relationship. They have a lot of technically proficient Soldiers and they are willing to help," he said.
Nichols normally spends 15 to 16 hours in the motor pool, running around in his grease-stained mechanic's coveralls. "If we have a lot of work, we stay until we have the mission completed," he said. Vehicles that go off post take priority and are finished as soon as possible.
"Everything is taken care of 100 percent. I don't want them breaking down outside the wire," Lee said.
The key for vehicles running smoothly is proper preventive maintenance checks and services, the mechanics said. Even customers like Godley agree.
When operators come in for command maintenance, they should first pick up their DA Form 5988-Es with their own vehicle's bumper number, so they are able to conduct the PMCS and write down the faults.
"They should not neglect PMCS. When it is command maintenance, come on over and do it properly. It does not take longer than an hour to do a good PMCS," Nichols said.
When conducting the PMCS, Soldiers should follow the technical manuals step by step. All faults should be annotated on the 5988 with the corresponding item number from the technical manual, they should not just be numbered in increasing order, for the sake of being numbered.
Once an operator is done, he or she should walk a mechanic through the faults found. The mechanic checks everything over, and signs the form unless the vehicle is "deadlined." The operator then sees the PLL clerk to dispatch the vehicle.
Operators must make sure that they have a current license, with the proper code authorizing them to operate the particular vehicle they are trying to dispatch, said Spc. Norman Black, an automated supply specialist, who works on the dispatching and orders parts for the motor pool.
If a vehicle must remain in the motor pool because a fault makes it too dangerous to operate, it may take some time to get the proper parts in and install them. Once a mechanic gets his hands on a vehicle, he doesn't only look at things that are annotated on the 5988.
"Understand that when you bring a vehicle down for one problem, and we find other things that are wrong with it, we fix those other things. Sometimes you may not get it back the same dayâ?¦but you will be better off in the long run," Lee said.
Black cautions everyone to be patient.
"Everybody is waiting for a part," he said.
If Soldiers are understanding about how busy the mechanics are, they will receive greater customer service in return, Black said.
| Date Taken: | 12.15.2005 |
| Date Posted: | 12.15.2005 07:44 |
| Story ID: | 4096 |
| Location: |
| Web Views: | 103 |
| Downloads: | 29 |
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