Army overhauling vehicle, weapon maintenance in ‘common sense’ move
By Davis Winkie
Wednesday, Oct 18
After a monthslong study that began in May, the Army will drastically slash maintenance requirements for approximately 1 million of its wheeled vehicles and rifles by eliminating most time-based service intervals that require soldiers to perform tasks like oil changes based on the calendar rather than how much they use their equipment.
Service leaders, including Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, heralded the change and said that reducing calendar-based maintenance can save around 632 man-years of effort — or around 230,000 soldier work days — annually. That reduction in labor will translate to better work-life balance, leaders hope. An order from Army headquarters announcing the changes is “in the final stages” and will arrive shortly, officials said.
And to hear the Army’s senior-most maintenance officials tell it, one might wonder what took the service so long to implement the “common sense” moves. Army Times spoke with the service’s top maintenance policy official, as well as four senior warrant officers from the study group.
The warrant officers explained that the current regimen prescribes time-based service for most vehicles in the Army’s fleet long before they near usage-based criteria (such as mileage intervals) for doing the maintenance. In an Oct. 9 press conference, George linked the idea to ongoing efforts to help soldiers spend more time with their families and have more predictability in their lives.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-army/2023/10/18/army-overhauling-vehicle-weapon-maintenance-in-common-sense-move/
