Moving the wing: 4th LRS vehicle management shop keeps mission rolling

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman John Nieves Camacho
  • 4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  With the smell of oil and gasoline enriching the air, the sound of power drills and fastening wrenches echo throughout the compound and clean hands quickly develop darkened grease coatings.

Senior Airman Chris Morel, 4th Logistics Readiness Squadron vehicle maintenance technician, yanks a chain lift within the 4th LRS vehicle maintenance shop. As he grabs his tools, he reads over a work order and prepares to service an MB-4 tow tractor in the shop needing various repairs. The tractor is just one of 541 vehicles used at Seymour Johnson AFB in support of delivering Strike Eagle airpower.

Multiple career fields are responsible for moving personnel, equipment, and resources around the world; but behind the curtain one career field has a hand in all of them.  The Airmen of the 4th LRS vehicle management section provide the vehicles to assist with daily operations across the installation - what they call 'moving the wing.'

Working inside of vehicle management are vehicle maintainers. These grease monkeys inspect, troubleshoot and repair vehicles used in direct support of multiple Air Force missions.

"We support 24 units within two wings, plus the North Carolina Forestry Department that maintains the Dare County Range which is used by the 4th Fighter Wing for air-to-surface bombing training," said Master Sgt. William Martinez, 4th LRS vehicle management superintendent. "Scheduled maintenance and special inspections are crucial to the safety and serviceability of the vehicle fleet. Every unit on base either has a vehicle we maintain or has used one of LRS' 'You Drive It' vehicles for a temporary duty assignment or distinguished visitor support."

Currently, the vehicle management section is responsible for the upkeep on every vehicle assigned to Seymour Johnson AFB. When one of them stops functioning properly, the staff is notified and gets the vehicle back up and running as quickly as possible.

"Without vehicle management, there would be no cargo or personnel moving," Morel said. "Without us their equipment would be down, and units would have to contract workers to get it fixed instead of sending it to us, which would cost a lot more money than just sending it our way."

The vehicle maintainers service a wide variety of vehicles, such as security forces' patrol cars, the medical group's ambulances and tow trucks for flight line operations. Their shop is split up into two sections, heavy machinery, such as forklifts, 60k aircraft loaders and buses, and light-duty vehicles, like bobtails, sedans and small trucks. This way, each Airman can focus on specific types of vehicles they specialize in.

Martinez said the mission-capable rate of the shop is 89 percent, exceeding the Air Force's 80 percent standard.

"On average, we close 188 work orders per month," he said. "Plus our mobile maintenance crew accomplishes more than 40 in-field repairs per month which alleviates vehicle down time."

Martinez added he couldn't be more proud of their hard work and dedication to the mission.

"In the last two months we've lost 40 percent of our military manning to deployments, however, our primary focus is to continue to maintain safe and serviceable vehicles to meet each unit's mission-essential levels," Martinez said. "The Airmen here have the best work ethics I've seen during my 15 years in vehicle maintenance. They come to work motivated every day, give 100 percent to keep our fleet running and on the road, and are eager to learn new technical procedures across a wide spectrum of vehicles."

Morel, who has more than 7 years of experience working with cars, said his motivation comes from having his dream job.

"It's definitely a passion; I love my job," Morel said. "I'm doing what I love doing. I come to work to do my hobby every day. Even after I leave work, I get changed into civilian clothes and continue to work on cars. From big equipment to small, from trucks to cars; it's a fun time."

With hundreds of vehicles falling under their purview, the vehicle maintainers of the 4th LRS have a constant flow of work to accomplish. But the sound of a slamming hood, a closing door and an engine roaring to life signals the successful completion of another task, another vehicle back on the job and another step in 'moving the wing'.