U.S. MARINE CORPS
U.S. Marines with 2d Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 3, 2d Marine Expeditionary Brigade, along
with approximately 650 soldiers and police officers from the Afghan national security force, prepare to board CH- 53 helicopters at Forward Operating Base Dwyer, Afghanistan, July 2.
vania, which repairs an array of communications and
electronic equipment for all the services; Red River,
for the reset and recapitalization of vehicles such as
HMMWVs, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and trucks; and
Letterkenny Army Depot in Chambersburg, Pa.,
which also deals with HMMWV recapitalization and
reset, while also upgrading generators, mobile kitchens, MRAPs and missiles.
Dwyer said upgrading the equipment is only part of
the recapitalization effort.
“We are not only recapping equipment, but we are
maintaining it, resetting it and we’re going to bring it
back to just like it was when it was new, overhaul it to
zero-miles and zero-hours conditions,” he said.
Dwyer described how depot workers have virtually
transformed the HMMWV M998, the oldest version of
the vehicle, into an M-1097 HMMWV by giving it a new
engine, new transmission and a higher level of suspension that is capable of taking greater weight. Likewise,
Army depot workers have upgraded tanks such as the
M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank to the M-1A2 SEP,
Version 2 configuration.
“We spiral technology into the systems that need to
have that technology, and then we give it back to the
troops,” he said.
Dwyer said the cost savings for resetting equipment
is hundreds of millions of dollars in terms of overhauling an item versus buying new.
“It is a savings because once we recap an item, it is
easier to maintain it,” he said.
The Red River Army Depot, built in 1944, today resembles a car factory production line, said Dwyer. He noted
that in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Red
River Depot recapitalized three HMMWVs per week, and
now is doing 32 a day with a capacity to recap 75 per day.
At the Anniston Depot, dubbed the “Pit Crew of the
American Warfighter,” the facility will have reset 2,700
combat vehicles and 150,000 small arms for the year,
said Dwyer.
AMC forecasts that about 400 aircraft will be reset
in the coming year, both at depots and at Army installations in the Middle East.
“From my perspective, I think the fact that we’ve
been at war for a number of years has caused us to
work together,” said Leonard of AMC’s dedication to
delivering “serviceable and usable equipment” to the
Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. “You show
up at the battlefield and you very quickly understand
‘I am not alone out here.’ There is always an appreciation for the talents the force brings.” ■
14
SEAPOWER / AUGUST 2009
