Members of the Red River team are pictured with representatives from the Connecticut National Guard during the final test of the M1158 HEMTT-based Water Tender (HEWATT). Red River Army Depot recently completed the remanufacturing project of the HEWAT...

RED RIVER ARMY DEPOT, Texas -- A two-year vehicle rebuild project has finally come to an end for Red River Army Depot.

Team members at the depot begin disassembling a M1158 HEMTT-based Water Tender or HEWATT in the fall of 2013. The HEWATT is a system of the M1142 Tactical Fire Fighting Truck (TFFT). A TTFT is an integration of a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT) mated with the HEWATT which has a water capability for Army Engineer Firefighting detachments and Ordnance Ammunition Companies.

This particular HEWATT belongs to the Connecticut National Guard. The truck made its way to Red River following an accident where the vehicle hauling it, hit a bridge. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the accident.

"Once our guys disassembled the HEWATT, we realized it would be a challenging project," said Dinah Johnson, Logistics Management Specialist at the depot. "The HEMTT side of the rework was the easy part because we, of course, work on HEMTTs. There are not a lot of technical manuals for the HEWATT side of the vehicle, so our guys had to start from scratch with a lot of it."

The shop floor team, led by Charles Cooper, began talking with Pierce Manufacturing, an Oshkosh Corporation Company and the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) for the vehicle. Slowly things started to come together.

"Getting parts for this truck had such long lead times that it took a while to get everything we needed to rebuild it back to a like-new condition," said Johnson. "We couldn't just go out and find any vendor for the parts. Some of the parts were OEM specific and other parts we had to wait on someone to build it for us."

Johnson spoke in further detail about the project.

"Unlike most vehicles we work on, we really didn't have much to go by when it came to manuals for the HEWATT," she said. "We were able to find a few technical manuals for something similar but things like the wiring diagrams were not exactly what we needed, so our team worked hand-in-hand with Pierce Manufacturing to figure out how to do certain things."

The Red River Fire Department was also involved in the process, helping the team complete functional tests on the vehicle.

According to a website discussing the vehicle, the TFFT is a multi-functional vehicle that is ready to deploy in almost any terrain to combat five types of fires/hazards including: wildland; structural; petroleum, oils and lubricants; tactical vehicle; and aircraft crashes. The HEWATT carries a 2,500 gallon polypropylene water tank, a Darley 500 gpm pump (hydraulic drive), a booster reel and hose.

Even though the process was lengthy, the team at Red River didn't give up. Though Johnson played a vital role in the process she refuses to take any credit for the successful outcome.

"The credit goes to the guys on the shop floor for being so diligent with this project," she said. "They did an excellent job, especially overcoming some of the challenges along the way. When we received the truck it was heavily damaged so to see it now and to know exactly the effort it took to get it back to its best condition is amazing. The customer seems to be really happy with the way it turned out and that is what matters to us."