After running what one general called “a rental car company,” the U.S. Army has decided to go back to having soldiers perform maintenance on helicopters and trucks, instead of relying exclusively on contractors.

 

General Raymond Mason, deputy chief of staff for Army Forces Command, said the service needs to have a better balance between what contractors provide and what the Army’s own personnel can do. For too long now, soldiers have been dropping off equipment for repairs or maintenance, Mason said, turning the service into a Hertz operation.

 

By having the Army’s own perform work on vehicles and aircraft, it should be able to get equipment back online faster and save money too.

 

Using what’s known as condition-based maintenance systems that predict equipment failure, the Army says it saved $210 million in aviation repairs last year.

 

According to Lt. Gen. James Pillsbury, deputy commanding general of the Army Materiel Command, by 2020 a unit would be responsible for preparing its own ground vehicles and aircraft.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Soldiers May Be Taking Over Jobs Currently Performed by Contractors (National Defense Magazine)