100th LRS Airmen stand-up first USAFE KC-135 DMS
By Senior Airman Luke Milano, 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
/ Published August 02, 2019
RAF MILDENHALL, England -- The 100th Logistics Readiness Squadron stood up the first KC-135 Stratotanker decentralized maintenance support section in U.S. Air Forces in Europe at RAF Mildenhall, England, in October 2018.
The DMS supports five different squadrons on RAF Mildenhall, encompassing three different major commands.
“The DMS is essentially supply personnel who are embedded within maintenance squadrons to provide them direct support with all supply actions such as parts acquisitions, repairs cycle programs and mission capable programs,” said Master Sgt. Anthony Tarantella, 100th LRS maintenance support superintendent.
Due to closer management of supply personnel in DMS sections, section leads were able to create more than 10 new streamlined processes and identify issues regard section training in the first three months of realignment, the maintenance support section reduced the part turn-in rate by 75 percent and part delinquency rate by 24 percent.
“I feel we play a vital role in the mission as when an aircraft is down because it needs a part, the only way maintenance can get the specific part they need is through us, and I get to see how we directly coordinate with them to fuel the mission,” said Staff Sgt. Jordan-Dean Morgan, 100th LRS DMS supervisor. “The integration has improved the communication between maintenance and supply, while building that trust and teamwork between us and making each other better.”
The section directly supported a transient B-52 Stratofortress by ordering, monitoring and tracking 20 mission capable parts worth almost $870,000.
“When DMS Airmen become integrated with maintenance, they become part of the maintenance team and that familiarity between maintenance and their supply personnel is extremely valuable,” said Tarantella.
The 100th LRS maintenance support section has been a vital addition to Team Mildenhall’s maintenance sections. Leading the way in these efforts have been the DMS sections. Each section, under the supervision of the 100th LRS, has streamlined maintenance processes and has improved the warfighting effort for every airframe on base.