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I bet you can’t do your job without VES

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Abbigayle Wagner
  • 90th Missile Wing Public Affairs

Maintenance teams dispatch every day in support of the ICBM deterrence mission. Their responsibility is to ensure the missiles remain up-to-snuff and will function in the event the key is turned.

However, maintenance teams can’t do their job without the 790th Maintenance Squadron Vehicle and Equipment Section.

VES maintains and distributes approximately 4,000 pieces of equipment, and they remain open for 24-hours a day, 365 days a year to support dispatching and returning teams.

“If we weren’t open 24-hours we would need to have members on stand-by for the teams that came in late,” said Master Sgt. Eric Barrera, NCO in charge of VES. “The whole process would slow down operations and the field dispatch shop because the stand by units are small teams. The smaller the team, the harder it is to track, annotate and move equipment.”

Some of the items VES maintains are small tools, utility vehicles and payload transporters. They supply these items to eight dispatch shops and five back shops. Currently, they have vehicles out with various units and some helping with the base open house.

Senior Airman Steven Jacob, 90th Missile Maintenance Squadron Electro-Mechanical Team technician, said having VES around is important because the 90th MMXS EMT team relies on them heavily to provide equipment when they send multiple teams out daily.

“VES is extremely important to the flow of our work,” said Jacob. “They provide us with everything we need and ensures the mission is conducted safely, securely and effectively on a daily basis.”

To ensure the job runs smoothly almost all vehicles and equipment are returned nightly.

“Missile maintenance technician’s jobs do not change often, therefore they check out their vehicles and tools for an extended period,” said Barrera. “However a majority of all other teams return each night and review items for serviceability.”

Most of the work that VES does is behind the scene, but their support keeps our maintainer’s mission going.

You might still think VES does not impact your job, but without them, maintenance teams couldn’t do theirs. The job of F.E. Warren is to provide our nation, allies and enemies with a credible and relevant nuclear deterrent and VES is here to do just that.