Execute Operations: 51 LRS Vehicle Maintenance

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Matthew Lancaster
  • 51st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  This is the fifth in a series of articles relating an overview of the mission at Osan Air Base. The major role Team Osan plays in the Republic of Korea and the extent of its mission will be showcased this week in the way Team Osan's Airmen "Executes Operations." Next week, there will be in-depth look at how the base receives forces. Concluding the series will be a wrap-up article with a video showing the broad spectrum of the base's mission.

Although Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea, is primarily a walking base, many units require vehicles to execute their missions. The security forces squadron needs their police cars for patrols and to respond to a scene quickly, the fuel shop needs their trucks to fuel the aircraft, and the aircraft maintenance units need their vehicles to get to each of their aircraft on the flight line. All of those vehicles are maintained and repaired by the 51st Logistics Readiness Squadron Vehicle Maintenance shop.

The 51st LRS vehicle maintenance shop performs inspections and maintenance for the government vehicles on Osan. They deal with minor upkeeps that would involve changing out broken headlights or fixing a flat tire and also do major repairs that would consist of fixing an engine or repairing a seal in hard to reach places of a vehicle.

The shop has five distinct sections for the type of job that needs to be done or the type of vehicle that needs to be fixed. The main part of the shop has the customer service section which does the minor repairs that would take no longer than one hour, the general purpose section that deals with the major repairs for everyday type vehicles, and the special purpose section dealing with major repairs for munition handling vehicles and street sweepers. The remaining two sections are split to have one section focus on the repairs of the fire trucks and the other with repairs specifically for the fuel trucks.

"We have these different sections of our shop so each specialized mechanic can focus on specific repairs," said Senior Airman Joseph Hooker, 51st LRS general purpose mechanic.

Another part of the mission for the shop is to make sure all the snow removal vehicles are working throughout the winter season because Korea can be snowy. If the base were to be covered with a heavy amount of snow then that would negatively hinder operations. The snow removing vehicles the shop maintains are key components for Osan to continue its mission at its normal tempo.

"Nothing would move on the flight line in the winter time without us because we maintain all the snow equipment," said Senior Airman Martin Monahan, 51st LRS special purpose mechanic. "There wouldn't be any other vehicle movement on base either with roads being too dangerous to drive on."

Whether its munitions that needs to be transported to an aircraft or snow that needs to be removed, the 51st LRS vehicle maintenance shop is essential for the upkeep of the vehicles used for those jobs. Osan's mission would not move forward without the necessary vehicles the shop maintains.

That concludes our coverage of how different units and Airmen at Team Osan contribute to executing operations. Next week we'll explore how Team Osan receives forces.