MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, Calif. -- Two Maintenance Center Barstow employees recently went to Okinawa to repair an immobile Assault Amphibious Vehicle that was damaged during a training exercise.
Frank Alvarez, welder, and Richard Jaramillo, metals inspector, took the trip across the Pacific Ocean with their tools to fix a dent on an AAV P-7.
"I was sent there to repair a P-7 that had damage in the front of the vehicle near the final drive," said Frank Alvarez, welder. "They had hit some coral coming into the beach and it caused the bottom part to cave in and the final drive got stuck."
The final drive is the part that turns the tracks on the AAV. To get the vehicle to move, the dent had to be repaired.
"When we got there and evaluated it, I found that some grinding and cleaning would get the dent out of the way," said Alvarez.
Getting the front hull to look like new again was not the only part that had to be repaired.
"Because of the way it was damaged, the holes on the inside didn't line up, so I had to fill in the holes," said Alvarez. "We made sure everything fit perfectly before we left."
After everything was fixed, Jaramillo inspected the repair by using nondestructive testing techniques.
"After the weld repair was done on the AAV, I [nondestructive tested] it with a liquid penetrant inspection and found there were no cracks," said Richard Jaramillo, metals inspector. "It was kind of like a double check to the welding and the visual inspection of the weld process."
The Marines were pleased with the repair job and glad to have their vehicle fully operational again.
"They were excited because the vehicle had been down for about three months," said Alvarez. "They really wanted it back in use."
Since Jaramillo had some extra time on his hands, he also completed some other work while in Okinawa.
"We spent a total of 10 days over there," said Jaramillo. "In addition to inspecting the AAV, I also helped another Marine unit over there that required some assistance with a crack on a Light Armored Vehicle."
He used nondestructive testing to help with the repair of the LAV as well.
"They wanted to know how far the crack propagated into the side of the hull, so what I did was actually perform a liquid penetrant test on the side of the hull and was able to locate the extreme ends of the crack so it could be welded up."
The reason the team was sent to fix the AAV was because Okinawa does not have a facility or the tools to do what MCB is capable of, said Alvarez.
This is not the only time MCB has sent employees overseas. It is cheaper for the Marine Corps to send a welder and inspector with their tools from Barstow to Okinawa than to ship an AAV from Okinawa to Barstow, the closest place to Okinawa that the vehicle could be repaired.
"It was my second time in Okinawa," said Alvarez. "I was there for a couple of months five years ago doing modifications on about eighty 198 (Howitzers)."
After the team returned to Barstow, their supervisor expressed his happiness for the job the two employees did.
"I'm glad we could get over there and support the Marines like that," said Greg Johnson, senior production supervisor. "The two men we sent did an outstanding job."