ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. -- Four representatives from Anniston Army Depot went to Mannheim, Germany, in October to provide support to the 405th Army Field Support Brigade.
Chief Warrant Office 4 Richard Wills, Keith Rainwater, Calvin Hunter and Edward Jennings provided quality assurance and quality control expertise as well as technical support for the contracting company Pacific Architects and Engineers.
PAE was on hand to issue, repair and maintain the fleet of Army equipment for rotational forces from bases outside of United States Army Europe.
"The biggest problem faced by the 405th was the lack of accountability on paper, such as services packets, technical inspection sheets and work packets," said Wills.
As maintenance experts on the M88A1 and A2 vehicles, the M109A6 self-propelled howitzer and the M1A2 main battle tank, these depot employees' knowledge was vital in assistance with contractor training, performing maintenance and solving logistics issues.
"The depot is one of the main providers of these vehicles, as far as overhaul. So, we provided a different perspective," said Rainwater, a quality assurance specialist with the Directorate of Engineering and Quality.
The team ensured vehicles were not only operational, but would be safe for the Soldiers operating them.
The men worked on several M88A2 vehicles, some M1A2 SEPV2 tanks, four M88A1s, and two M109A6 Paladins.
"We tried to get as many of the vehicles running as we could," said Jennings, a heavy mobile equipment mechanic for the depot's Directorate of Production.
Throughout the process, they trained contractor personnel on the proper tools and procedures to perform maintenance and repairs to the vehicles.
"The technical support, advice and guidance by Rainwater, Jennings and Hunter was sought by the supervisors from the first day on the ground," said Wills. "The support that they provided allowed the contractors to not only have more vehicles available for handoff, it minimized the need for controlled substitution on too many vehicles. This alone saved the contractors countless man-hours trying to repair vehicles that were cannibalized."
This trip was the first part of a two-part task. A second trip will involve the turn-in of equipment.
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