(CRANE) – Crane Army Ammunition Activity (CAAA) recently collaborated with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security and state partners to simultaneously provide training equipment for first responders and make available valuable storage space for Warfighters.
Indiana firefighters and emergency responders needed hundreds of containers for training exercises including search techniques, safe entries, and fire simulations as well as additional storage. The Indiana Department of Homeland Security and the Indiana Office of Defense Development (IODD) sought out Crane Army and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) for assistance providing containers to emergency responders at little to no cost.
A Crane Army Ammunition Activity employee lifts a container off a military vehicle for storage. Crane Army inspects incoming containers and determines whether or not the containers can be repaired and used for storage and future missions. Containers deemed insufficient for future use are labeled “beyond economical repair” and are kept at Crane Army as inventory until transferred elsewhere by the Defense Logistics Agency (U.S. Army photo by Amy Crane).
“When the state or government organizations have a need and we can assist in connecting sources together, it creates a win-win situation that solves an issue and creates an opportunity for future partnerships,” IODD Director Danielle Chrysler said.
Crane Army receives more than a thousand containers throughout the year and must determine how to best utilize them. After inspecting the containers to the required standards, CAAA employees determine whether the containers can be repaired and used for storage and future missions. Containers deemed insufficient for future use are labeled “beyond economical repair” and are kept at Crane Army as inventory until transferred elsewhere by DLA.
A Crane Army Ammunition Activity moves an incoming container to an initial storage site for inspection. Crane Army inspects incoming containers and determines whether or not the containers can be repaired and used for storage and future missions. Containers deemed insufficient for future use are labeled “beyond economical repair” (BER) and are kept at Crane Army as inventory until transferred elsewhere by the Defense Logistics Agency (U.S. Army photo by Amy Crane).
CAAA worked with DLA and provided more than 200 BER containers to firefighters and emergency responders across the state. Not only does this new partnership help firefighters and emergency responders by providing more storage capacity, but it also allows Crane Army to house even greater amounts of munitions in addition to the more than $9.8 billion of ordnance currently stored, inspected, shipped, demilitarized and produced at CAAA.
“Some of the containers we had available had been here vacant for over a year,” Crane Army Container Control Officer Louis Marion said. “This partnership not only helped our partners in the state but created more storage area for future missions here at Crane Army.”
Crane Army focuses on readiness and providing munitions to the Warfighter. In this instance, a need provided a solution and started a partnership.
“Crane Army provides munitions readiness to Warfighters all over the world,” Chrysler said. “This time, CAAA helped provide readiness to Indiana’s first responders.”
Crane Army Ammunition Activity produces and provides conventional munitions requirements in support of U.S. Army and Joint Force readiness. It is one of 14 installations of the Joint Munitions Command and one of 23 organic industrial base installations under the U.S. Army Materiel Command, which include arsenals, depots, activities and ammunition plants.
