NMNG sustainers build readiness at Data Accuracy Validation

Story by Maj. Brendon Hischar, 93rd Troop Command

DOÑA ANA TRAINING COMPLEX, N.M. – The morning air is still and quiet in the desert expanse surrounding the nondescript building flying the New Mexico state flag.

Tucked away in a quiet corner of Fort Bliss, the Maneuver Area Training Equipment Site (MATES) looks like a cross between the neighborhood mechanic’s shop and a peculiar car lot, with row after row of tan-colored military vehicles radiating out from the building at its center. Inside, the scene is much different.

There is an energy and a clamor here produced by all the different teams working in tandem—mechanics inspecting vehicles, machinists grinding new parts, and administrators passing papers between widely spaced desks, with the results of their efforts meticulously recorded on large dry erase boards.

This is one of the final days of the Data Accuracy Validation (DAV)—a weeklong combined effort on the part of several different New Mexico National Guard units and activities to improve the overall maintenance readiness of the force.

“We are actually on a mission. We’re not just training, we’re doing a job,” said Capt. Jason Busher, commander of the 642nd Support Maintenance Company.

The 642nd, joined by the fulltime staff of the MATES and logisticians from Joint Forces Headquarters-New Mexico, is supporting this effort to inspect over 1,600 pieces of military equipment, document any maintenance faults or missing items, upload the results to appropriate computer systems, and schedule their repair or replacement.

All this effort by so many different people is an important part of maintenance readiness—the long series of often-unseen actions required to place functional equipment in the hands of Soldiers who need it. For the Soldiers of the 642nd, many of whom are traditional Guardsmen, these days are a significant portion of their Annual Training.

“The Soldiers can translate all this to a civilian job,” Busher said.

The Soldiers under his command—working in several different sections according to their respective specialties—agreed.

“We get to actually train on these machines,” said Pfc. Emanuel Mondragon, an allied trades specialist attending his first training event with the unit. He had just finished making blades for a horizontal mill, which will make that equipment work better.

Mondragon had spent several days making parts with his section, and ground and welded the blades under the close supervision of Chief Warrant Officer 2 Eugene Pettes, a project manager for the City of Rio Rancho who serves as the unit’s allied trades section chief. Pettes and his section contributed to the effort by machining new parts for the maintenance equipment and machine tools found at the MATES.

“Any part that’s damaged, we can make it,” Pettes said. “We also have the ability and knowledge to start manufacturing parts.”

As Pettes and his section worked in the machine shop, teams of mechanics moved from vehicle to vehicle on the lot outside, checking batteries and parts for serviceability and function, and inspecting each vehicle for leaks.

“It will make you work,” Spc. Todd Bernal said of another Soldier’s efforts to remove a battery box cover inside an M1117 Armored Security Vehicle (ASV) under the scorching sun of the southern New Mexico desert.

The results of the activity outside and around the MATES eventually flowed into a cluster of offices under the supervision of MATES Superintendent Capt. Natalia Serrano. There, staff cataloged and quantified the results before placing them on large boards.

“We are trying to combine our efforts to improve readiness overall,” Serrano said about the Soldiers from different organizations who now filled the maintenance bays and offices of her usually quiet facility. “There has been a lot of progress, a lot of faults identified on equipment, and shortages found.”

Serrano and the logisticians from headquarters will be responsible for coordinating future maintenance and parts ordering, the main purpose of the week having been to check and validate equipment for future action.

“They’re getting something out of it,” Staff Sgt. Juan Nuñez, a maintenance control noncommissioned officer with the 642nd, said of the value of the work for the Soldiers working around him. “We’re going to accomplish what we came to accomplish.”