JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 When a piece of aviation support equipment requires repair aboard a maritime prepositioning ship at sea, U.S. Marines in Jacksonville are ready to respond.<\/p>\n
After shipboard maintenance contractors identified a loss of tire pressure on a wheeled crane, two Marines\u2014aviation ground support equipment mechanics\u2014departed Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island, driving roughly 25 miles along the St. Johns River for retraining and certification.<\/p>\n
They completed refresher training in tire and wheel maintenance with the Navy at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, strengthening the Marine Corps\u2019 ability to sustain equipment aboard ships positioned worldwide for rapid-response operations.<\/p>\n
Marine Corps Sgt. Christopher Canaleshall and Sgt. Sarah Soucie, aviation mechanics designated as quality assurance representatives with Blount Island Command, reported April 30 to the Navy\u2019s Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Detachment 900 Division, part of Fleet Readiness Center Southeast.<\/p>\n
The training requalified them to repair the crane\u2019s tire issue, enabling them to deploy on short notice, if needed, and assist contractors at sea.<\/p>\n
Blount Island Command works closely with Military Sealift Command to sustain maritime prepositioning ships, which carry equipment and supplies forward so Marine units can respond quickly without waiting for gear to deploy from the United States.<\/p>\n
Maintaining that readiness continues after ships depart Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
Marine Corps maintenance contractors\u2014many of them veterans\u2014conduct preventative maintenance, perform semiannual startups and apply modifications at sea to ensure equipment remains ready for immediate use in austere and contested environments.<\/p>\n
Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Travis Garn, quality assurance chief for the aviation branch, coordinated the training with NAS Jacksonville to expand capability across afloat and ashore sites.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a display of our joint force capability in that we\u2019re able to work and train together,\u201d Garn said. \u201cWhen we\u2019re out with a Marine expeditionary unit, we work hand-in-hand with the Navy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re increasing operational readiness, ensuring we can move quickly in a contingency,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The training\u2014described by Garn as a competency review for mechanics\u2014also allows Marines who primarily serve in quality assurance roles to maintain proficiency in their core occupational specialty.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re getting qualified so whenever gear goes down on a ship, they can send one of us,\u201d Soucie said. \u201cThe ability to be a 911 response within the maritime prepositioning force offers a good change of pace.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDoing stuff like this gets us back to the basics of our military occupational specialty,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
By leveraging nearby naval infrastructure and expertise, Blount Island Command is strengthening aviation sustainment through local partnerships that enhance efficiency and expand capability. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 When a piece of aviation support equipment requires repair aboard a maritime prepositioning ship at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-253002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}