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MCB employees assess gear in Kuwait

USMC News

Submitted by: MCLB Barstow
Story Identification Number: 2003710121843
Story by Rob L. Jackson

MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, Calif.(July 10, 2003) -- Almost immediately after heaviest military operations in Iraqi wound down the Marine Corps Logistics Command dispatched an 18-member team of experts to Kuwait to begin assessing combat gear for reconstitution.

Three members of that team were from Maintenance Center Barstow and deployed on May 16 to marry up with the main group and returned home on June 7.

Harold Gray and Rick Noonan, both heavy mobile equipment mechanics, and Larry Bonner, a communication/electronics specialist, along with the other members of the team, had the task of inspecting the ground equipment to determine what would be returned for depot level maintenance and what could be sent to the scrape heap.

"We basically looked at all ground equipment that came into camp," said Rick Noonan, Cost Work Center 723. "Anything from motorcycles, boats, all engineering equipment, generators, LAVs and ordnance equipment as well."

Calling themselves basically "junk inspectors," Noonan said that whatever the Marines couldn't repair at Camp Fox his team had to make the determination as to whether the gear was still salvageable through depot maintenance or had to be disposed of.

Before the team arrived the inspection process the Marines were using required at least a two-week turn around before damaged gear was returned.

This process meant taking gear away from the Marines, getting someone else to look up all the parts and check the price and see if replacement parts were at 65 percent cost or greater. Then the Marines would get the disposition or disposal information, Noonan explained.

"Before we got there they were doing extensive Limited Technical Inspections. They had to write up every single part that was missing or broken and then had to write a cost up on them. We did an on-the-spot determination and saved them a lot of time. It freed the Marines up to do the things they needed to do to get the equipment up and running," he said.

According to Harold Gray, a Marine sergeant was assigned as their liaison and at anytime he would come in and inform the team that a piece of equipment had come in unexpectedly.

"We got out there where the gear was loaded - on Army trucks or civilian trucks - and just before it was unloaded we would say, 'Ok, this one here is nothing but a frame, that's Code H' or 'This one here is burned,'" said Gray.

The damaged equipment, once inspected, would be moved to a certain area so the Marines wouldn't have to move it three or four times, "because it was a lot of stuff there and cranes were at a premium," Gray said.

Paperwork would be turned in and about two or three days later retuned to the team with a disposition, a Code H for example. The unit would get it the equipment and if there were any good parts they would get stripped before it went on the truck and over to the Kuwaiti junkyard, explained Noonan.

The MCB Barstow team stressed that the criteria for the gear was it was either going to go back for depot maintenance or labeled Code H, which is junk.

If the gear was going to be disposed, junk metal or whatever, the Marines would get the parts off that were still salvageable first then call the "Hadji truck" and have it haul what was left off to Daha for disposal, according to Noonan.

"I know they took some equipment down and crushed it so no one could use it for other than what it was meant to be used for," Noonan said.

The MCB team revealed that the main factor included in the criteria they used to determine what would be disposed of or what was to be sent back for depot level maintenance was cost.

Noonan used the MK or logistics vehicle system as an example to explain what is meant by cost.

"The MKs are below the level they need to be on the Marine Corps' table of equipment, so basically if it had a good frame we would code it out for depot because they're not making any more," he said.

"If it looked like it was going to cost more to rebuild than what it would cost for a new one, then we would Code H it and take the parts off it."

According to the team members, a lot of the vehicles had no engines and no transmissions; they were burnt to the ground or stripped to the frame.

"We heard different things about who stripped the equipment off. So we had to get someone who really knew, said Noonan. "If it was left one the side of the road, it was pick-a-part for whoever happens to come by. It could be Marines, Army or Iraqis, whoever happens to be by there for whatever reasons."

Whatever equipment the Marines could repair while in Kuwait the EA team would allow them a time frame to do it. If it could not be repaired within the time allotted, usually two or three weeks, the EA team labeled the gear for depot maintenance, according to Gray.

"They (the Marines) had a deadline because some of the equipment had to go back on ship, either the MPS ship or a ship sending it back to the unit at Camp Lejeune or Camp Pendleton," said Gray.

If the Marines couldn't repair the equipment, sometimes it was because of parts that they couldn't get, said Noonan.

"For older equipment the parts would be obsolete. We would put a commission code on it to fix it at depot. We have contractors and we could contract it out for parts," he explained.

According to the MCB team, the Marines were making the on-the-spot repairs. They were incredible out there in the middle of the day in the intense heat; some of them worked out in the sun and never complained.

"We were impressed," said Gray. "Being former Marines (he and Noonan) we were wondering did they have the same morale, same motivation, espirit de corps, same professionalism."

"By far," said Noonan. "These young kids were really incredible and very respectful to us, and if we asked for something it was there, just really good attitudes considering the work environment that they had. We were really impressed with today's Marines and it left us at ease when we left and we thought, 'Well we're in good hands.'"

By the time the team arrived in Kuwait the Marines had about 600 vehicles completed, according to Larry Bonner. They processed the gear as best they could with what they had. The three weeks the assessment team was on location relieved the Marines and allowed them to focus on other things.

"We didn't go over there expecting to have a good time, we went over there with the mindset that we're going to work," said Noonan. "We had a job to do and did the best we could."

When it comes to resetting the operational forces, the maintenance centers here and at Albany will have their work cut out for them based on the condition and amount of gear the equipment assessment team described, which explains why both are expecting to hire additional people.