Marines


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Twentynine Palms, California
Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command and Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center
Photo Information

William Moody (left) and Bryan Anderson (right), a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) technician with Facilities Maintenance Branch, Public Works Division (PWD), Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC), operates on an air conditioning unit at MCGACC, Twentynine Palms, California, July 22, 2022. Despite the extreme heat of the high desert, the PWD, HVAC section maintains performance of air-cooling systems on buildings at the Combat Center. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Broden Marshall)

Photo by Lance Cpl. Broden Marshall

We sweat so you don’t have to: Public Works Division HVAC keeps the Combat Center cool during the hot summer season

22 Jul 2022 | Story by Lance Cpl. Joshua Sechser Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms

MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. – “This climate is the hottest an air conditioner can handle,” said Bill Moody. “We’ve been in extremely warm weather conditions for a few weeks now. That doesn’t stop us.”

“We can’t. We have to work even harder in these conditions to keep the base operating.”

Moody, a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) technician for Facilities Maintenance Branch (FMB), Public Works Division (PWD), Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC), is part of a crew of technicians with PWD HVAC Section that maintains over 12,000 pieces of air-cooling equipment on the Combat Center. This creates a heavy workload for HVAC personnel during the hottest months of the year.

“We’re responsible for all of the HVAC here, the main side and Camp Wilson facilities,” said Jimmy Brown, the HVAC supervisor for FMB, PWD, MCAGCC Twentynine Palms. “We have 12 people in the shop, on a given day, being sent out on preventative maintenance work and repairs.”

Brown added his technicians can receive a multitude of maintenance requests for service work each day. Any of these requests that pertain to living spaces on base need to be handled on the day that they are received. Brown explained that customers submit their issues with a priority level and those are weighed against other requests.

“We give a high priority to command decks, living quarters, the daycare and the dog kennels,” said Moody. “Anything that keeps this base running are the things we’re going to get to first most times, but with that said, no one wants to work in the sun all day and then come home to a house with no cold air.”

Moody hopes that the customers know how seriously they take the issue of protecting them from the grueling summer heat of Twentynine Palms and they work tirelessly to maintain equipment that keeps them safe.

“Our hope is that all of our customers on this base know that we’re working to the best of our abilities,” said Moody. “Our team has worked many long days this summer to ensure that these systems are maintained, and they will continue that work.”

To submit a maintenance request, contact your unit’s chain of command or barracks manager so that they can be processed and given to PWD. For more urgent issues, people can reach out to the FMB Trouble Desk at (760) 830-6271.


Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms