An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

HVAC keeps 379th AEW cool

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Cassandra Locke
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  Imagine life here without a break from the heat. There would be no air conditioning if it wasn't for the 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron's heating, ventilation and air conditioning shop. 

HVAC has 37 personnel that work two separate shops. The main HVAC shop consists of 29 personnel and is located in the civil engineer compound. 

During the first month of the rotation, the crew had more than 1,450 jobs to respond to. 

"We ended up working more than 12 hours a day to take care of all of our customers," said Master Sgt. Jeffrey Hebner, 379th ECES. 

The team works on the flight line, in Ops town, the Combined Air and Space Operations Center and there is a refer crew that takes care of all coolers and ice machines. 

For the flight line, the 379th ECES takes care of all buildings on both sides, as well as the bomb dump. There are also new facilities near the B-1 squadron that the 379th ECES is going to start working on. 

One group works out of Coalition Compound with nine Airmen that service the billeting rooms, fitness center, finance, learning center, clinic, theater plus all other buildings. 

"The CAOC is one of our priority facilities and we've completely cleaned all units inside and out, plus added extra AC units and used ingenuity to make our equipment work even better in the 115 degree desert heat," said Sergeant Hebner. 

The crew has changed out more than 125 complete air conditioning units and the maintenance crew has been to almost every unit to complete a thorough cleaning inside and out to make the units more efficient. 

"There have been numerous emergency calls that could have prevented the GWOT from continuing with the servers, local area network lines or possible front line information for the special forces," said Sergeant Hebner. 

Not only does air conditioning keep people cool, it keeps the equipment functionable. 

"If HVAC was not here, the critical computer, servers, monitors, radar, and high tech equipment would be failing daily in the heat, as with every other craft, we are all here for one thing and that is to ensure the GWOT has the eyes on each and every AOR, every second, every minute every day," said Sergeant Hebner.