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Your life is our business

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Bryan Swink
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  The hot, dusty, fast-paced, desert environment is hard on aircraft systems, and when they malfunction, it is often the aircrew and their perspectives that dominate the post mission analysis. But just as often it's the people behind the scenes, the ones that do their jobs out of sight, that often contribute the critical piece of gear that enables a safe recovery.

Aircrews use a wide variety of equipment to not only perform their mission, but to survive and to facilitate recovery if their aircraft goes down, and it's the job of the 379th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron, Aircrew Flight Equipment Flight to ensure the pilots and crew have peace of mind about their gear.

"Our motto, 'Your life is our business and we're the last to let you down,' means everything to our AFE Airmen assigned here," said Master Sgt. Bryan Rudquist, 379th Aircrew Flight Equipment Superintendent. "We ensure our aircrews never question their equipment when they put it on. They don't have time for that."

A team of enthusiastic professionals is charged to maintain all life-sustaining equipment aboard aircraft assigned to the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing. These teams know the ins and outs of every piece of equipment and are standing by to adjust fit of equipment, provide clarification and answer any questions on the equipment the crew may have before their mission. This ensures the crew is aware of all the equipment at their disposal and how to use it if necessary.

These AFE Airmen perform pre- and post-flight checks on all survival equipment. They inspect and fit items like helmets, oxygen masks, parachutes, life preservers, life rafts, night-vison devices as well as theater-specific signaling equipment.

Along with mission termination inspections, each shop also performs routine inspections to ensure the equipment is ready for the next mission.

For every piece of equipment, the Airmen follow the instructions laid out in their technical orders. These TOs provide step-by-step instructions on how to maintain the equipment. The guidelines ensure every piece of equipment is thoroughly inspected to eliminate equipment failure.

"Our AFE Airmen live by following TOs," said Rudquist. "These instructions tell us how to perform our job. We must follow all TO guidance without exceptions, because we are dealing with emergency life-saving equipment that will help protect the crew member's life."

The size of each shop varies depending on the number of aircraft assigned to the wing. The success of this 379th AEW team is a total force effort comprised of active duty, Guard and Reserve components tirelessly working behind the scenes to personify the Wings motto, "We're All In!"

"These Airmen are phenomenal at what they do and bring a great level of professionalism into the shop every day," Capt. Ryan Bradford, 379th Aircrew Flight Equipment officer in charge. "Regardless if they are active duty, Guard or Reserve, everyone comes in ready to work and get the mission accomplished."

The AFE Airmen assigned here provide aircrew personnel peace of mind before, during and after every mission because; their life is this flight's business!