TOBYHANNA ARMY DEPOT, Pa. -- An elite team of Soldiers joins forces with Team Tobyhanna every year to ward off sudden power outages at the largest facility in the world that repairs and maintains communications electronics equipment for the Armed Forces.
Fourteen Soldiers from the Bravo Company 249th Engineer Battalion (Prime Power), Fort Bragg, N.C., spent 20 days at Tobyhanna performing preventative electrical maintenance and testing.
The Soldiers worked alongside Installation Services Division (ISD) employees from the Facilities Maintenance Branch to perform testing and maintenance on electrical substations, and various medium voltage electrical systems. Work was performed in several areas throughout the depot's industrial area.
This is Electrical Worker Kyle Miller's second year working with the Prime Power Production specialists.
"They are a very knowledgeable group and follow great safety procedures," he said. "Their work is done efficiently and safely every time and it has been a pleasure to work with them."
The Soldiers have been testing various electrical transformers in sub stations around the depot. "Preventive maintenance lets us know, for instance, if a transformer coil is aging to the point of failure," Miller said, adding that such a power outage would cause production problems across the depot.
The unit is working on 24 of the over 50 substations on the installation, focusing on medium voltage tasks.
"We developed a pretty ambitious schedule and they're on track to complete everything on time," said Robert Lange, Facility Maintenance Branch chief. "They've put a pretty good dent in our substation workload."
The Soldiers get a chance to use their skills and train on modern electrical systems, according to George Rittenhouse, engineering technician with ISDs Installation Planning and Maintenance Division. "Over the years, the test results have helped us detect trends and plan scheduled power outings to make necessary repairs."
ISD technicians have worked with the battalion since 1999.
"This is a big opportunity for our Soldiers to use on-the-job training to build experience at a cost savings to Tobyhanna" said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Matthew Nelson, officer in charge. On average, the depot experiences a 75 percent cost savings compared to a private contractor.
The 249th is a versatile power generation battalion assigned to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that provides commercial-level power to military units and federal relief organizations. The battalion offers a variety of services including: electrical power requirement assessment, power production; transformer inspection and test analysis; maintenance and repair of power plants, substations, and government owned or managed transmission and distribution system, circuit breaker and relay maintenance; infrared surveys, medium-voltage electrical contractor oversight, and training for personnel to operate and maintain prime power distribution and generation equipment.
"It feels good to know we've provided a safe working environment for all depot employees, said Staff Sgt. Derek Straubie, mission non-commissioned officer in charge. "The work completed by the Soldiers has strengthen Tobyhanna's electrical infrastructure and the experience gained by each Soldier is vital to sustaining mission success."
Tobyhanna Army Depot is a recognized leader in providing world-class logistics support for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems across the Department of Defense. Tobyhanna's Corporate Philosophy, dedicated work force and electronics expertise ensure the depot is the Joint C4ISR provider of choice for all branches of the Armed Forces and industry partners.
Tobyhanna's unparalleled capabilities include full-spectrum logistics support for sustainment, overhaul and repair, fabrication and manufacturing, engineering design and development, systems integration, post production software support, technology insertion, modification, foreign military sales and global field support to our Joint Warfighters.
About 3,100 personnel are employed at Tobyhanna, which is located in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania. Tobyhanna Army Depot is part of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command. Headquartered at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, the command's mission is to research, develop, acquire, field and sustain communications, command, control computer, intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors capabilities for the Armed Forces.
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