Military members support new POV storage plan

Translog: Journal of Military Transportation Management, Jan-Feb, 2002 by Don Dees

When Chief Petty Officer Renato Feliciano received a transfer to Japan in 1995, he had to sell his Nissan Sentra.

There was no entitlement to take his car to Japan--and neither, for that matter, was there any Department of Defense storage of vehicles.

That changed in 1997, when a series of storage options was made available. However, different military installations offered different options.

Now, the Military Traffic Management Command is developing a single storage contract, which will cover service members at all installations in the United States who are on assignment to areas where they are not permitted to bring privately owned vehicles.

Feliciano, now driving a Dodge Stealth and on orders to Hawaii, is enthusiastic about the change. He recently reflected on his situation a few years ago.

"You weren't paid for storage," said the Navy medical corpsman, interviewed Nov. 28 at the Baltimore Vehicle Processing Center.

"It was easier just to dispose of it than to store it."

So he sold his sport coupe and transferred to the Pacific.

"It would have been paid off by the time I got back."

Master Sgt. Bob Andrews agrees.

"I didn't have to deal with it," said the Air Force transporter, returning from a tour in Korea.

Hardest hit by the storage issue are single enlisted troops, he said.

"Other guys over there complained about the process," said Andrews, of several young airmen who worked with him.

Andrews took his motorcycle with him when he went to Osan Air Base.

The storage benefit would have had little impact on Andrews, had he not been allowed to ship a vehicle.

"I would've just left it at home."

Andrews is married, and he said his wife would have taken care of any storage issues.

The current system is problematic for Feliciano, even though it does provide for storage.

"When you get back to the States," said Feliciano, "where will the car have been stored?"

If a service member leaves from one coast and returns to the other, Feliciano speculated there would be some difficulty retrieving the vehicle.

"How would I get it back?" he wondered.

MTMC's new plan would smooth the process when service members return to the United States.

The single contract holder would receive the vehicle from the customer, and deliver it as directed at the end of the tour, according to Charles Helfrich, Chief of MTMC's Privately Owned Vehicle and Storage Branch.

The convenience was evident to Andrews.

"At least they'll know the car is being taken care of and that it's in a garage," said Helfrich.

"It's one less thing to worry about while they're over there."