TOBYHANNA ARMY DEPOT, Pa. -- The Army is continuing its transformation effort to bring medical maintenance support closer to operational units without organic maintainers within their ranks.
Under an initiative called Medical Logistics in Campaigning, or MiC, the Home-Station Medical Maintenance Support, or HMMS, program was launched last year at Fort Bragg to begin closing a crucial readiness gap for the warfighter.
Work is ongoing to bring a planned second wave of locations online in the near future, including Fort Benning, Georgia, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency’s Medical Maintenance Operations Division at Tobyhanna Army Depot, Pennsylvania.
“Borne out of MiC, the HMMS program is helping us align medical maintenance with existing sustainment processes of other Army commodities, saving time and money, and ensuring readiness in the process,” said Alfred Zamora, an equipment specialist at USAMMA and acting deputy director for HMMS.
In the Northeast region, units like the 3rd General Support Aviation Battalion, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, out of Fort Drum, New York, are already utilizing a future HMMS site at MMOD-PA, using Tobyhanna’s helipad recently to drop off over 30 pieces of equipment.
Staff Sgt. Michael Silbart, flight paramedic for the 10th Mountain “DUSTOFF” unit, said the capability to drop off dozens of pieces of equipment at once for recalibration, repair and return to service within a month is “invaluable” to continued operations.
“Being the most deployed unit in the Army requires us to have top-tier maintenance, and that is what USAMMA provides us with,” Silbart said. “Flying directly to USAMMA makes the process seamless and controlled. The lack of a middleman always gives us more control over our equipment and prevents things from getting lost.”
DUSTOFF is used as a callsign by Army air ambulance units, including helicopters dedicated to medical evacuation.
Silbart emphasized the importance of USAMMA’s support, saying it’s the only way to ensure service for their specialized equipment.
“The current facilities here at Fort Drum are not equipped to handle our specific equipment,” he said. “Without USAMMA, we would not be capable of completing our mission here.”
Minimizing downtime and increasing overall readiness are two primary drivers of the planned HMMS program expansion, and the ability to utilize Tobyhanna’s helipad adds more logistical benefits for customers and the team at MMOD-PA alike.
“We’re able to accelerate delivery timelines, reduce ground transport requirements and strengthen relationships with our customer base,” MMOD-PA Director William Wall said. “At the same time, aviation units utilize this resource as part of their training flight hours, making it a mutually beneficial arrangement.”
MMOD-PA technicians successfully completed maintenance and calibration on 18 medical devices, including infusion pumps, ventilators, defibrillators and more, which were exchanged during a coordinated helicopter drop-off for 20 newly arrived devices requiring service.
“This seamless transition, occurring approximately two weeks later, ensured uninterrupted operational readiness and mission support,” Wall said, adding that he expects more use of the Tobyhanna helipad with the future HMMS expansion plans.
Seeking to close critical maintenance gaps that affect readiness, HMMS was developed under MiC, which aims to integrate medical logistics into the Army Sustainment Enterprise as part of the Army’s Campaign Plan 2023-2030.
The first site was established at Fort Bragg during MiC’s proof-of-concept phase in 2024. The North Carolina installation now supports over 100 units, including active-duty and National Guard, throughout the state.
After wave two’s planned rollout later this year, additional proposed sites include Fort Carson, Colorado, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, and USAMMA’s other two MMODs in Utah and California.
USAMMA is a direct reporting unit to Army Medical Logistics Command, which has been tapped by Army Materiel Command to lead the MiC effort.
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