Travis saving energy, resources through 'a cleaned up act'

Published Oct. 5, 2011
By Airman 1st Class Joshua Crane
60th Air Mobility WIng Public Affairs

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Cal. -- Two minutes and eight seconds are all that are required to save manpower by approximately 95 percent, according to Nick Dyson, 60th Logistics Readiness Squadron chief of vehicle operations, who is making sure to prove that point.

For years, government motor vehicles, or GMVs, have been washed manually and this takes time, Dyson said. "With nothing more than a soap bucket and a water hose they'd spend around 45 minutes ensuring the vehicles were properly cleaned."

However, after six months of construction and more than $600,000 spent, Travis AFB now has a GMV carwash of its own.

"Manpower isn't the only thing we're saving though," Dyson said. "The water is recycled and softened and all of the chemicals involved in the system are environmentally friendly."

Dyson said that in time the carwash will pay for itself.

"The General Services Administration reimburses us for up to two carwashes per government motor vehicle per month," Dyson said. "Now that the time is a fraction of what it was, we'll have more vehicles cleaned on a daily basis."

Travis has one of the largest GMV fleets in Air Mobility Command, and all 363 vehicles are capable of going through the 14-foot-high, 12-foot, 6-inch-wide carwash.

"What we look forward to the most is the new system being setup to track washes," Dyson said. "It'll be just like the GMV gas pumps now, you'll input your information, drive through and get back to work."

The effort with the GMV carwash at Travis AFB may also be another example of what people are doing across Air Mobility Command to support the Air Force's theme for energy awareness and conservation in fiscal 2012 -- "Power the force -- fuel the fight."

In his editorial to AMC people on energy awareness on Oct. 4, Gen. Raymond E. Johns Jr., AMC commander, said, "Changing our culture on energy use as a military force is critical to driving the new ideas and methodologies essential to achieving increased operational efficiency. We've had a good start at AMC and in the Air Force, but we can do more."

With October as Energy Awareness Month, Johns stated in the editorial for all people in AMC, and the Air Force too, to "make an extra effort to look into saving energy and becoming more efficient in your home and workplace."

"Do your part to 'power the force' with less energy, and continue to 'fuel the fight' with new ideas for energy conservation. Together through this effort we will be even more efficient while maintaining our unrivaled effectiveness, ready to answer the call of others anywhere in the world."

(Air Mobility Command Public Affairs contributed to this report.)