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News | Nov. 11, 2019

Fuels facilities maintains base service station

By Airman Azaria E. Foster 23d Wing Public Affairs

Approximately 438 government owned vehicles (GOV) on Moody use fuel provided by the base service station in order to do their job.

The service station’s tanks, which can hold up to 40,000 gallons of fuel, are maintained by two Airmen assigned to the 23d Logistics Readiness Squadron (LRS) fuels facilities section.

“Our mission is to provide clean, dry fuel to all government [owned] vehicles and agencies within the Air Force,” said Staff Sgt. Bryan White, 23d LRS fuels facilities NCO in charge.

To maintain the facility and ensure the fuel is safe for vehicles, the Airmen perform routine checks on the valves, tanks and service station parts.

“We do daily, weekly, monthly and annual checks,” said White. “Each get more in depth as they increase with time. For example, our annual check entails us recalibrating the meters that measure how many gallons get off-loaded from fuel trucks. They are more in-depth than a daily check, which is when we only make sure [there are] no leaks or damage to valves.”

In addition to completing checks, the tank sumps are drained to make sure there is no water or contamination in the fuel.

“Water always sinks to the bottom of the tank because it’s heavier than fuel,” said White. “So, we pull fuel from the bottom of the tank and if water comes out, we get rid of it. It prevents us from giving out contaminated fuel, which could damage GOVs.”

Without the maintenance checks being performed on the service station, vehicle management would spend additional funds to keep GOVs operating.

“If [fuels facilities Airmen] didn’t check the quality of the fuel, as far as it being contaminated, that would affect our vehicles by having us replace fuel system components because they would wear out prematurely,” said Master Sgt. Judson Andrews, 23d LRS vehicle management superintendent.

The efforts to maintain the service station indirectly impact those who directly contribute to the mission.

“Without us, the service station could easily become inoperable,” said White. “If the base service station couldn’t issue fuel, all the GOVs you see driving around wouldn’t be and each organization’s connection to the mission wouldn’t be able to be done.”


Editor's note: The original story can be viewed on the Moody Air Force Base website.