MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- For almost 16 years, the 6th Logistics Readiness Squadron and 927th Air Refueling Wing Vehicle Operations teams operated out of multiple buildings due to a lack of space and availability.
Finally, the Total Force team joined together again under the same roof, June 20.
“The best part of this move is that we are all in one building now,” said Master Sgt. Joshua Lenz, the vehicle operations section chief assigned to the 6th LRS. “We had our documented cargo team, operations records and licensing team, vehicle operations control center support team, and our vehicle dispatchers separate from our equipment support team, training facility, and superintendent.”
Back in 2002, the 6th LRS Vehicle Operations team relocated to Building 175 and Building 3175, which at that time, wasn’t big enough to accommodate everyone and needed a rental trailer to shelter the rest of the team.
The trailer is no longer needed with the new facility, however, a building can't do any work on its own. The dedicated crews, together in their new work home, can now provide better customer support through faster internal communication and more collaborative efforts.
“Our capabilities are also increasing as we are upgrading from one operational washing bay to two fully-functional washing bays with four wash stations and a new vehicle drying bay,” said Lenz.
The move comes as no surprise to anyone within Vehicle Operations because although the situation before wasn’t ideal, resiliency and flexibility are key components in the overall makeup of what makes a successful Air Force squadron.
“In addition, our cargo deployment function has also been moved from the passenger terminal location to our new facility, freeing up space for a secondary customer waiting area,” said Lenz.
On top of new capabilities and functionality, the Vehicle Operations team saved a lot of money as a direct result of the move.
“To rent out our trailer cost us approximately $1,800 per month,” said Staff Sgt. Omar Rivera, the NCO in-charge of equipment support assigned to the 6th LRS. “In addition to saving money from renting a trailer, our brothers and sisters at Special Operations Command Central donated five couches in excellent condition, a conference room table and custodian room shelving to save us costs on furnishing and supplies.”
SOCCENT wasn’t the only contributor as the 91st Air Refueling Squadron contributed an additional conference table and approximately 20 office chairs to the new Vehicle Operations facility.
“I was impressed that we were able to handle the demand of this move while not ceasing or shutting down operations,” said Rivera.
Although the move is finally over, the real work begins as the Vehicle Ops team is finally back together and ready to answer MacDill’s call as one unit under one roof.