Vehicle management flight keeps emergency vehicles prepared to respond

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Brigitte Brantley
  • 23rd Wing Public Affairs
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  When sirens are heard from an ambulance or fire truck, individuals should know that without the efforts of one Moody flight, a quick response to emergencies would not be possible.

The 23rd Logistics Readiness Squadron vehicle management flight is responsible for maintaining 51 emergency vehicles, as well as fleet control over 438 additional vehicles.

"The primary goal of this flight is to maintain a safe and serviceable fleet to help support the 23rd Wing's mission," said Joe Mitchell, 23rd LRS vehicle fleet manager. "Having all the emergency response vehicles prepared is obviously very important because of the wide range of effects they can have.

"The vehicles we maintain are responsible for responding to fires, crashes and other situations which may need immediate response," he added. "When these emergency vehicles are unserviceable and unable to respond, lives and equipment are placed in danger."

These emergency vehicles include ambulances, security forces response vehicles, crash recovery vehicles, civil engineering vehicles and fire trucks, all responsible for responding to various on- and off-base situations that need their assistance.

Ambulances, one of the most vital life-saving vehicles, are responsible for responding to both in-flight emergencies as well as calls made to 911. In a typical year, Moody's three ambulances may respond to roughly 400 911 calls and IFEs.

"If our ambulances aren't properly maintained, we wouldn't be able to respond to calls or get to patients," said Staff. Sgt. Jason Watkins, 23rd Medical Group medical technician. "Even if something simple such as the electronics isn't working, our response time can be cut drastically. To get to South Georgia Medical Center with sirens and lights can take up to 20 minutes but without them can take more than double that."

Fire trucks, another vital vehicle, respond to structural fires as well as in-flight emergencies and crashes, making the 'rescue' in Moody's mission of 'Attack, Rescue, Protect' even more capable of being accomplished.

"Fire trucks are extremely important to making Moody's mission possible," said Tech. Sgt. Joseph Dietz, fire truck and material-handling maintenance NCO in-charge. "For example, the P-23 crash fire truck is capable of holding more than 3,000 gallons of water. If this single truck is unserviceable and therefore unable of responding to emergencies, it cuts down on our flightline firefighting capability by 30 percent."

The total value of the 662-vehicle fleet is $60.3 million, a large amount to be taken care of by a flight of less than 50 individuals.

"The flight's current mission-capable vehicle rate stands at 92.8 percent, above Air Combat Command's goal of 90 percent," said Mr. Mitchell. "Especially considering that an average of 10 percent of our flight is usually deployed at once, it is even more impressive the job these Airmen do of keeping these vitally important vehicles ready to go."

Although the vehicle management flight has a total of 662 vehicles under their watch, they are only responsible for repairing 489. The 820th Security Forces Group is responsible for maintaining the rest, which include mine resistant ambush protected vehicles.