IMAGE CONSCIOUS


HANDS-ON TRAINING Mills trains SGT Tiffany Riggs and SPC Joshua Whitehead on a CT scanner in Al Asad, Iraq.


WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST THREATS TO EQUIPMENT UPTIME? Sandstorms are so bad in theater. The air conditioners and the CTs’ cooling fans suck the sand in. Inside the CT, the sand blasts the fiber optics that data is sent through. It’s a mess. Technicians take tarps and cover up systems when they’re not in use. We encourage preventive maintenance and regular cleaning. We do everything possible to keep the sand and dust out. It’s a constant battle because it’s so fine.


Intense heat is also a problem. It can reach 140 degrees in Iraq. We have to keep the systems at or below 74 degrees. The tem- perature can’t fluctuate more than 10


degrees. Reliable, stable power is a chal- lenge, too. The power is run by commercial generators, and there’s a lot of fluctuation in voltage, which contributes to failures.


And when you’re working on a CT and all of a sudden you hear an incoming alarm that a rocket attack is happening. … Well, I’ve always said, “Anybody can fix a CT. It takes a real tech to fix it in a war zone.”


DO YOU FIND YOUR WORK REWARDING? Yes. Everyone makes you feel welcome. I get the same question, “Can you be based out of our site?” I was in Tallil, Iraq, work- ing on a CT, and the unit asked me, “If we build you a house, would you stay?”


When I was in Al Asad, Iraq, every time I would submit a travel request, they’d have their command disregard them, so I wouldn’t leave. In Tikrit, they named a hall after me. It’s all their way of showing us how glad they are we’re there.


At USAMMA, we support the organiza- tion and don’t always see the end user. But on the FRA-M, we work with those who actually use the equipment. You see them, you talk to them—it’s amazing. There’s so much appreciation you’re there. And they’re so happy you came, and it’s nice to feel welcome. It reconnects us to why we do what we do.


—USAMMA staff


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Army AL&T Magazine


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