Saving fuel, saving time, saving dollars

Published April 30, 2013
By Senior Airman Samantha Krolikowski
92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- Airmen from the 92nd Logistics Readiness Squadron are implementing a more organized refueling system for government owned vehicles.

The new system will help the 92nd LRS alleviate paperwork to check out fuel keys as well as over 100 man-hours.

"We took a bunch of signed forms for fuel keys in our database and downsized it by two-thirds of what we had," said Staff Sgt. Aaron Hastey 92nd Logistics Readiness Squadron fuels accountant.

The downsize of the database is to help the 92nd LRS keep track of the vehicles on base that have a fuel key. Although the database has been downsized for LRS, the process to get issued a key is virtually the same.

In the process of downsizing the amount of paperwork for a refueling key, the Vehicle Control Officers from each squadron have helped by keeping track of what vehicles are issued to them.

"If it's a government owned vehicle, the military member can check out a fuel key for the life of the vehicle or until it's gotten rid of," said Hastey. "After the vehicle is no longer used then the VCO has to return the key."

The 92nd LRS will be able to take the signed form from the vehicle control officer, have it re-encoded and send them on their way.

"We had the VCOs put every single vehicle that was assigned to them on a piece of paper along with the grade of fuel," said Hastey.

People have been known to abuse their assigned fuel key for personal use, and the new program is trying to help cut down on how much gasoline is being used.

"The fuel key is not being used for its intended purpose; people are taking a vehicle key not assigned for that vehicle and are using it for a personal vehicle," said Hastey.

In order to receive gasoline, a military member has to sign out a fuel key and can only use it for the assigned vehicle. The gas pump will ask for the odometer reading and track how often the vehicle is being used.

If the fuel key is not registered on the vehicle, the military member will not be able to obtain gas for it.

This will help stop the use of gasoline being used for personal use.

"We're hoping this new program will run a lot smoother and the fraud, waste and abuse will shrink down," said Hastey.