379 ECES electrical shop keeps mission energized

Published Nov. 7, 2008
By Senior Airman Clinton Atkins
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

Southwest Asia -- Without power there would be no air power, so a shop here keeps the current moving for all the facilities at this Southwest Asia air base.

The 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron Electrical Shop here keeps the mission energized by satisfying the electrical maintenance and implementation hunger of more than 1,000 facilities.

"We handle all low voltage maintenance for the operations side of the base (except for the airfield lighting)," said Tech. Sgt. David Hyson, 379 ECES Electrical Shop job planner. "Low voltage includes everything from the building's main distribution all the way down to the light switches. Also, if a building needs more electrical capabilities we add the electrical circuits if it's justified by the mission."

The 25-man shop has completed more than 380 jobs within the past three months.
"We handle a wide variety of electrical problems," said the San Antonio native. "If there is an electrical problem we solve it.

"We work 30 to 35 jobs per week," said Sergeant Hyson, deployed from Pope Air Force Base, N.C. "We can finish five to 10 jobs per day."

A significant portion of the electrical shop's work is making sure everything is up to code.

"Some of these facilities have lightning protection, facility ground and static ground protection systems that shield the equipment inside from power surges so they need to be inspected," he said. "If the building is ever struck by lightning the protection system will send the path straight into the ground."

The shop also restores any loss of power caused by tripped circuits or faulty electrical transformers that cause power surges. Since July, the electrical shop has responded to approximately 60 power outages, which are typically caused by overloaded circuits.

"We have a dedicated crew who deals with all emergency power outages," Sergeant Hyson said. "We have people working 24 hours a day."

Lighting is another one of the shop's often requested services. Requests range from simple office lights (10 feet or higher) to the tall lights used at the gates and street lights.

"Lighting plays a critical role in security," he said. "The Lima Gate area needs power. Security Forces can't search vehicles effectively without the proper lighting.

"Recently, we had to reconfigure the lighting at Lima Gate because of poor visibility," Sergeant Hyson said. "We had to rip down the old lights, run new circuits and wiring and put up about 20 new fixtures and lights. That was a big job. It took us about three weeks to complete."

Power is also important to the morale on base, he said.

"It gets hot here in the desert," said Sergeant Hyson. "The (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) units need a power supply to cool down a building so everyone can do their work comfortably. Medical, security, tracking equipment, TVs and computers in a building all run off the power we maintain."

The maintenance the shop does is only half of the story, said Master Sgt. Chris Culbreth, 379 ECES Electrical Shop noncommissioned officer in charge. Whenever a new facility comes online, the electrical shop coordinates with the end users to make necessary power implementations.

"The majority of the newer facilities incorporate contractors who add a skeleton wiring system," said the Jacksonville Beach, Fla., native. "Then once the occupants move in and once they have more guidance on what equipment they are going to bring into the facility, that's where we factor in."

As the base develops an enduring presence in Southwest Asia, the 'expeditionary' way of conducting business is becoming obsolete. A lot of what there is now is only a short term solution, he said.

"Most of the newer facilities that are coming online weren't designed for what we put into them so we're manipulating them to accommodate the current occupants," said Sergeant Culbreth, deployed from McConnell Air Force Base, Kan. "There are a lot of installations, increases, takeaways and other modifications of that nature that need to be done. Changing over to an enduring presence is a big part of that. In the past we would get a facility and we would feed a power requirement from any way we could do it. Now, we're thinking more of a safety net. If we're going to have an enduring presence then we need to do things the right way.

As the base builds into an enduring presence, the electrical shop's scope of operations will include a larger picture.

"When you're on a six-month rotation you have smaller agendas, you baby-step through it," Sergeant Culbreth said. "If we're here for a year we'll be able to look five years down the road. But for right now, the mission is so high impact and so quick paced it's hard to do anything but take it one day at a time. We're continually moving forward, with increasing and modifying the power requirements - it's never ending."