Infantry

Over the years, mechanized infantry units have faced the dilemma of trying to manage and balance training with the demands of maintenance. The question is: How do we spend less time maintaining our fleet and more time training on our mission essential tasks list (METLs)?

The answer is "doing it right the first time," while enforcing high standards that are institutionalized over time and ingrained into our operators and leaders. This can be accomplished with a certification program that allows us to balance readiness and training. At the same time, units must let their NCOs and leaders know that if they do it right the first time, they will have more time to train their soldiers on collective tasks.

A high-quality PMCS certification program will help a unit do each of the following things:

* Learn a common set of PMCS standards, techniques, and procedures.

* Learn what is expected of each soldier and leader.

* Share knowledge with each other.

* Identify problems and trends.

* Seek new ideas to improve maintenance operations.

* Improve maintenance proficiency and efficiency.

Proper PMCS is the baseline for all unit maintenance. According to Field Manual (FM) 9-43-1, Maintenance Operations and Procedures, "the cornerstone of unit maintenance is the operator/crew performing PMCS from applicable operator's series (-10 level) technical manuals." As I have found both in the field and in garrison, rigorous adherence to PMCS schedules will identify deficiencies before they become disasters. The next step, however, is to ensure that operators and crews actually know how to conduct the PMCS; this knowledge does not come entirely from a manual, but also from an effective certification program for all soldiers in the unit.

PMCS certification is a training program that can take three to five days; although it is time consuming, a commander will find this certification is critical to the accomplishment of his unit's maintenance-and hence, combat-mission. The program...