SALT LAKE CITY — Medical maintainers from the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency were among the exhibitors at the 2024 DOD Maintenance Symposium, held in Dec. 10-13 in Salt Lake City.

Staff Sgt. Nora Martinez and Sgt. Nick McKinley, both from USAMMA’s Medical Maintenance Operations Division at nearby Hill Air Force Base, Utah, or MMOD-UT, represented USAMMA and MMOD-UT at the event, which features maintenance and logistics organizations from throughout the Department of Defense.

“It was a really enriching experience on a personal level and for the organization as a whole,” said Martinez, shop supervisor at MMOD-UT, one of three stateside maintenance divisions under USAMMA. “Being at these types of events helps build relationships within the DOD maintenance and logistics communities, as well as with our industry partners.”

The symposium, held at the Salt Palace Convention Center, brought together over 3,000 maintenance and sustainment professionals representing military services, private industry, government agencies, academia and international allies, all in pursuit of advancing the DOD’s sustainment enterprise.

It marked the first time in over 20 years that USAMMA had participated in the four-day event as an exhibitor, according to Jorge Magana, director of USAMMA’s Medical Maintenance Management Directorate, or M3D.

“As a recently new addition to Army Materiel Command, we are making efforts to speak the same language and go in the same direction as our Army partners in other commodities,” Magana said. “Not only was it important to see and share how our Army partners are getting after solving maintenance problems, but it was also invaluable to demonstrate to other agencies in the DOD how we are sustaining medical devices for the warfighter and how we are postured to support now and into the future.”

MMOD-UT Director Jose Vasquez said the event also showcased how the maintenance and logistics communities are modernizing their operations.

“Artificial intelligence and virtual reality concepts were a major trend and something that USAMMA M3D has been looking into for potential tele-maintenance and training,” he said. “It was nice to demo the newest technology.”

At the MMOD-UT booth, Martinez and McKinley set up an interactive display with several of the latest medical devices the maintenance teams regularly service, test and repair, including an anesthesia machine, a portable ventilator and a vital signs monitor.

“We were just trying to educate people and get them to understand how complex these medical devices are,” Martinez said. “There are over 190 different pieces of equipment in use, and we must be subject-matter experts on all of them. … I think that is sometimes shocking for people to learn.”

McKinley, a medical maintenance technician, said it was interesting to talk with and learn more about other maintenance and sustainment organizations.

“Events like these really underscore the importance of building relationships in the sustainment community,” McKinley said. “We all work together and share the same goal of supporting the warfighter.”

Added Martinez: “Being able to tell our story is half the battle in some cases. It was just a cool opportunity to represent and answer some questions.”

USAMMA is one of three direct reporting units to Army Medical Logistics Command, the Army’s Life Cycle Management Command for medical materiel.

Magana said a common theme that came up in breakout sessions and engagements with leaders during the event was to continue pushing sustainment activities as close to the point of need as possible.

USAMMA utilizes its Forward Repair Activity-Medical, or FRA-M, teams to provide direct sustainment-level maintenance support to units anywhere in the world, but Magana said additional supports — through a program called Home Station Medical Maintenance Support, or HMMS — are coming under an initiative known as Medical Logistics in Campaigning, or MiC.

“HMMS is an effort where we bring regional medical maintenance capabilities and capacities to units without organic medical maintainers,” he said. “We launched our initial ‘proof-of-concept’ phase of the program at Fort Liberty, where we can support over 100 units, including active-duty and National Guard, in North Carolina.

“We plan to continue expanding the program to not only save time and money in maintenance operations, but also ensure medical readiness to support our Soldiers,” Magana said. “That’s our biggest priority.”