Aerospace Ground Equipment sheds light on wing mission

Published Jan. 25, 2008
By Senior Airman Tong Duong
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- As the sun sets and day transitions into night, one Southwest Asia maintenance squadron helps light the way to ensure the mission stays at the forefront.

Members of the 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron Aerospace Ground Equipment unit work around the clock to ensure pilots have enough amperes to power their planes and maintainers have the proper lighting to perform their jobs.

The unit has more than 840 pieces of equipment, according to Senior Master Sgt. David Johnson, 379th EMXS AGE flight chief. From generators to air conditioning units, maintenance stands, heaters, and bomb lifts, the squadron dispatches an average of 1,700 pieces of AGE a week and logs more than 14,000 miles on the squadron's fleet of bobtail trucks every month while delivering equipment to the flightline, maintaining an average in-commission rate of 94 percent.

"If we don't support the aircraft with our support equipment, the crew chiefs and pilots can't get the planes off the ground to re-supply our troops, and make bomb runs," said Master Sgt. John Edge, 379th EMXS AGE noncommissioned officer in charge of production and control, deployed from Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.

With more than 80 Airmen assigned to AGE, the squadron has the ability to support all aircraft on the flightline around the clock, Sergeant Edge said.

"We support 379th AEW aircraft including the B-1s, C-5s, RC-135s and AWACs, as well as C-17s, Navy and Coalition planes," he said. "Basically anything that flies through this base, we can support."

While the squadron's operations tempo here is similar to that at Tinker, the pressure is even greater, he said.

"Here in (Southwest Asia), our job is a much higher priority than it is back at my home station," he said. "We have servicemembers in harm's way who need the supplies these planes are bringing in, so it's critical that we provide these planes with the proper equipment they need to proceed down range."

To ensure the speedy delivery of equipment, more than seven sub-cooled sections are strategically placed along the flightline.

"We try to get the equipment to the aircraft as quickly as we can without breaking any rules," Sergeant Edge said.

In spite of the greater pressure of being in a deployed location, Sergeant Edge enjoys being in the thick of things.

"I'd rather be outside getting my hands dirty than sitting behind a desk," he said.
"It took me four years to get this deployment."

Another advantage of being deployed is this environment offers more opportunities for Airmen to learn other aspects of their jobs, said Tech. Sgt. Robert Whitney, 379th EMXS AGE craftsman deployed from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas.

"We have equipment here that we don't normally work with at my home station," he said. "We get a lot of specialized equipment here."

With a squadron motto of, "Get something done," this is especially great for younger Airmen because they will get more exposure and involvement with the maintenance and inspection side, than they get at their home stations, he said.

Having the abilities to see during hours of darkness and properly lift to load bombs on planes as well as being able to cool down Airmen working in 100 degree plus weather is imperative to keeping the mission on track, Sergeant Whitney said. The 379th EMXS AGE unit works around the clock to shed light on the wing's mission.