Vehicle Management Flight transports Moody

MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- In the midst of fire trucks, forklifts and aircraft loaders are more than 40 Airmen and civilian contractors who play a pivotal role in accomplishing the goal of providing safe and serviceable transportation for Moody's 416 Air Force owned vehicles.

Consisting of six shops, the 23d Logistics Readiness Squadron Vehicle Maintenance Flight is tasked with making sure their fleet is serviceable to safely load cargo, move passengers, transport aircrew members and move supply parts to base organizations in need.

"The Vehicle Management Flight is responsible for ensuring all transportation needs are met, and we pretty much support and affect every entity on base," said Master Sgt. Nicholas Zeece, 23d LRS vehicle management section chief. "We perform maintenance which contributes to providing transportation for our base emergency responders such as ambulances, fire trucks and security forces vehicles."

"Our work also affects CE [23d Civil Engineering Squadron] in their ability to be mobile to drive around to complete projects, getting pilots to their jets and also allowing fuels Airmen to get to the flightline," added Zeece. "Pretty much anything with wheels that's government property is accounted for by us and has to go through scheduled maintenance checks to ensure proper serviceability. It's a big and important mission."
VMF's personnel utilize their areas of expertise with various small to large tasks in their day-to-day operations.

"My usual day typically involves a variety of vehicle repair work, ranging from periodic maintenance to inspections," said Airman 1st Class Samuel Reilly, 23d LRS vehicle management technician. "In the multipurpose shop, I do maintenance on everything, such as cop cars, loaders and fire trucks. We handle more extensive maintenance. If customer service can't finish the repair within two hours, they can send the vehicle to us to complete the job."

In addition to conducting maintenance, the VMF is solely responsible for 416 Air Force owned vehicles in their fleet valued at approximately $32.3 million. The VMF maintains above the Air Combat Command's standard of 90 percent mission-capable rate at an average of 94.9 percent, which can change daily.

"Trucks change all the time, from different engines to transmissions," said Zeece. "We have to troubleshoot a lot and are always relearning configurations and methods, which is challenging, but we're more than capable of ensuring mission readiness.

"The job can be tough and some Airmen don't see the impact they provide every day," added Zeece. "It's important to open their eyes and to see the bigger picture. That vehicle an Airman is repairing might be an ammunitions asset which will go out to the flightline to load bombs on an [A-10C Thunderbolt II] to help assist in killing the enemy. Even though we're not on the frontlines, we are still in the fight and we play a key role in the mission."