VCO’s keep ‘em moving

by Air Force Staff Sgt. Sheila deVera
JBER Public Affairs

4/21/2014 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- Keeping up with maintenance of a privately owned vehicle can be time consuming and tedious. Most people are usually only concerned with a one or two cars, perhaps three, but the 673d Logistics Readiness Squadron Vehicle Management Analysis maintains more than 1,900 vehicles assigned to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, making their mission a daunting task.

The LRS established a vehicle control officer program as a liaison between VMA and units who have government-owned [GOV] or General Services Administration vehicles.

"The purpose of a VCO program is to reach out to each squadron to make sure they have the vehicle they need to complete the mission," said Senior Airman Brian Level, 673d LRS vehicle management analysis. "This is to ensure they cover every aspect of the vehicle that they cannot control themselves, such as a vehicle repair, requesting a vehicle or modification."

When a vehicle is due for a maintenance or annual check, the VCO will receive an email or call from the VMA stating their vehicle is due for maintenance.

"If it is a GSA vehicle, they will take it to get the maintenance done off base and report to the VMA with the mileage and date the maintenance was done," said Leve, Columbia, S.C., native. "If it is a GOV, the VCO will bring the vehicle to customer service, and we will contact the unit when the maintenance is done."

There are currently more than 160 VCO's on JBER.

VCOs help ensure effective utilization, training, operator care and scheduled maintenance of their unit's vehicle assets.

"The VCO program is crucial to have; they provide the date and information to VMA," said Tech. Sgt. Lamar Parker, VMA noncommissioned officer in charge. "It also saves us from having to inspect vehicles in more than 60 units."

One way to prolong vehicle life is to accomplish the Air Force Form 1800 before operating a vehicle. The from is required to be signed daily if a vehicle is in use or monthly if they are not using it on a day-to-day basis.

"The AF Form 1800 is one of the main items that need to be in the vehicle at all time," Level said. "Before driving the vehicle, they have to inspect and annotate it on the AF Form 1800, filling out all the required information."

To ensure the form is filled out correctly, the VMA does an inspection to make sure VCOs are doing their proper checks.

"They are required to do a 100 percent check on their fleet monthly," the five-year veteran said, "When the VCOs turn their vehicles in the customer service checks the AF Form 1800 ensuring they are filling all the blocks correctly."

The AF Form 1800s are key to documenting visual inspections.

"Vehicles without proper form and maintenance can be reported as abuse." Level said. "When they are not putting miles on the vehicle, they are messing with the utilization of the vehicle. If it shows the vehicle is not being utilized, then we are going to request to rotate it to make sure that it is being used properly."

If a safety-related discrepancy is found during the visual inspection, the vehicle needs to be turned in immediately to vehicle maintenance, while all other discrepancies must be reported within 24 hours.

"They [VCOs] have to keep us in the loop because we are trying to prolong these assets," Parker said.

For more information about the VCO program, please contact the VMA office at 552-0225.