Army medical maintenance facility offers vast professional development opportunity

Story by C.J. Lovelace

U.S. Army Medical Logistics Command

HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah — On a sprawling base in northern Utah, there’s a large warehouse and medical maintenance shop that U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Nora Martinez has grown to love.

She said she enjoys her work as a biomedical equipment specialist, but it’s the career development opportunities that really stand out as she grows in her military career.

Martinez, then a private first class, arrived at the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency’s Medical Maintenance Operations Division at Hill Air Force Base, known as MMOD-UT, in 2018. It was her first experience in sustainment-level medical maintenance.

“I’ve gotten to experience different sections within the MMOD and go on a lot of missions extending throughout the USAMMA and Army Medical Logistics Command footprint,” Martinez said. “It’s been a great opportunity to learn and train.”

In the past five years, MMOD-UT has immersed Martinez into the Army’s medical maintenance enterprise, providing valuable experience and training that’s propelled her to the rank of staff sergeant and the facility’s maintenance chief.

Along the way, she’s supported missions in numerous overseas countries, including deployments with USAMMA’s Forward Repair Activity-Medical, or FRAM, team, which are deployable subject-matter experts who augment unit-level personnel in forward locations with direct maintenance and training support.

“You get to wear many different types of hats when sent out on our missions — not only being able to operate as a biomedical technician, but also participate in logistics tasks during equipment fieldings during real-world events in Poland, working alongside foreign partners and other U.S. military branches on deployments, like in the diplomatic support center in Iraq,” Martinez said. “It’s made me incredibly passionate about our bigger picture medical logistics mission, not just maintenance.”

It’s not uncommon to find several former service members on the roster of civilian and contract technicians at MMOD-UT, where employees said they enjoy the workplace culture, family atmosphere and, of course, vast career development opportunities.

Iyana Smith spent four years at MMOD-UT in uniform before getting out. She returned in August as a civilian supply technician.

“It could have ended when I was a Soldier, but then what? This place presents opportunity for new skills and career growth in an exciting field,” she said. “It’s nice to work alongside Soldiers, even though I’m not one anymore. I miss it sometimes, and here I still feel like I’m part of it without being in it.”

The Soldier experience at MMOD-UT is quite different from USAMMA’s other two stateside maintenance divisions, specifically in that there is no uniformed military presence at the other locations in Pennsylvania and California.

Over the years, MMOD-UT has benefitted by retaining a good portion of its expertise from military technicians who often continue to serve as civilians or contractors. It creates built-in mentors and a knowledge base for junior technicians to quickly learn, grow and contribute to the team’s fast-paced mission.

“This is a great place for professional development, whether you plan on staying in the military for 20 years or transitioning to the civilian sector,” MMOD-UT Director Jose Vasquez said.

Vasquez said the facility provides support to a wide range of medical devices in a high operational tempo environment, serving as the “first touch” on many new medical materiel acquisitions that are fielded to the force.

“This gives our technicians an opportunity to work on very large quantities of new equipment and work through issues, such as validation of original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, service literature, developing testing procedures and kits, startup lists and more,” Vasquez said.

This exposure, combined with OEM training opportunities and an environment that emphasizes the importance of teamwork, provides technicians with a great foundation for growth in the medical maintenance field, according to team members.

“We’re very intertwined and there’s lots of technical knowledge that gets passed on very well here,” Martinez said.

Hatim Rockssi, a 14-year civilian technician, said each group — military, civilian and contractors — brings a unique strength to the table.

“Whether it’s to stay here to complete more work orders, go out on the road missions or engage with other military personnel, this team has a lot of skills it can leverage by working together,” he said.

Two additional former Soldiers, Kayla Colfax and Joe Tincher, joined Smith in recent years, also choosing to stay with the organization after hanging up their boots.

“Being able to come in and work with someone with such a large amount of knowledge was really, really useful,” Colfax said, reflecting on her time spent in uniform working at MMOD-UT. “I learned a lot from the civilians who were here and are still here now. As a Soldier, it’s helpful to work with people who tend to stay put and really know what they’re doing.”

Added Chief of Operations Michael Burger: “It’s great to know that they want to make MMOD-UT their home and continue their careers here. And it makes us stronger as a work family as we keep experienced technicians with the organization who are knowledgeable with the military systems already.”