MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE ALBANY, Ga. -- In April 2008, a team of 10 civilians and two Marines from Maintenance Center Albany set out on a proof of principle experiment to see if a civilian maintenance team could provide the necessary preventative maintenance to Marine Corps Reserve sites in order to improve the reserve site’s readiness level and enable the reservists to be better prepared for mission objectives.
The 10 civilians consisted of eight heavy mobile equipment mechanics, one electrical equipment repairer and one work supervisor. The group, called the Logistics Mobile Maintenance Team, began their mission near Miami at the Hialeah, Fla., reserve site, ready to assist with any and all preventive maintenance.
After successful completion of working and turning all necessary equipment, the team moved to West Palm Beach, Fla., and continued north working all remaining reserve sites in Florida.
The team returned home in June 2008 for two weeks to restock their parts, rest and relax. Once the rest period was over, the team continued performing maintenance at most reserve sites in Alabama, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota.
The team is currently in Minneapolis. To date this team has serviced 82 reserve units, traveled 14,771 miles and worked more than 1,000 pieces of equipment all in less than 16 months.
The average time spent working on each site’s gear was approximately two weeks. Many of the reserve units were welcoming and appreciative of the Logistics Mobile Maintenance Team efforts, but some were a little apprehensive.
The LMMT learned that they had to earn the trust of the units that they were working with in order to get full cooperation and complete mission objectives.
Many sites that the LMMT visited did not have the time or the people available to do the necessary preventative maintenance that their vehicles required.
By providing the man hours and manpower to do the preventative maintenance work, the LMMT was able to give the Reservists the ability to focus on their ground training, physical fitness standards and administrative functions during their monthly drills, instead of on vehicle maintenance. The mission was to elevate readiness for Marine Forces Reserve Command, which was accomplished.
Sal DeMichael, manager, Forward Branch, MCA, said, “Great accomplishment men. Job done and done well. Congratulations!”