AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar -- Airmen of the 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron aerospace ground equipment flight ensure 571 pieces of ground equipment are up to specifications and ready to support aircraft flying missions here.
AGE Airmen here perform maintenance on a variety of aircraft equipment including bomb lifts, hydraulic test stands, air conditioners, heaters and power carts.
Senior Master Sgt. Joseph Mageau, 379th EMXS AGE flight chief, said the maintenance his Airmen perform is critical to the overall mission at Al Udeid.
“They are a vital link in the maintenance chain that is ultimately responsible for providing safe and reliable weapons systems to the pilots who fly them into harm's way,” said Mageau.
The high-ops tempo and learning curve required at Al Udeid has been an eye-opening experience for one Airman.
“[I work] with a lot of equipment I don’t have at my home station,” said Airman 1st Class Annaliz Rodriguez, 379th EMXS AGE journeyman. “I put a lot of focus in learning and try to fix everything as fast as possible. I usually get a lot of help from my leads and read the technical orders until I understand something and if I don’t, I always ask for help.”
Rodriguez said that, despite its challenges, the variety of equipment that AGE technicians service keeps the job new and interesting.
“What I enjoy is learning something new almost every day,” she said “The thing about AGE is we don’t work on the same equipment every day, one day I can be working on a bomb lift and one day I could be working on a MULE (multifunctional utility/logistics and equipment) vehicle. I never get bored, that’s what I like about it. No matter how much I think I know about a unit there’s always something new that’s thrown at me to fix.”
Whether inspecting a hydraulic system for deficiencies or conducting hands-on repairs for a power generator, AGE Airman ensure aircraft maintainers have the tools needed to keep jets flying.
“There can be no air power without ground power,” Mageau said. “Our Airmen deliver that product every day.”