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380AEW Article

Lights, Power, Air-Conditioning

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Stephen Linch
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  The 380th Expeditionary Mission Support Group was almost done building a tent city for transient Soldiers when they ran into a problem. 

Two generators, essentially 40 feet-long trailers with exhaust pipes, were not the correct voltage to power the tent city assembled using war-ready materials from U.S. Air Force Central Command. After contemplating several options, they decided to obtain transformers to correct the issue. 

The transformers were scheduled to arrive Oct. 3 at 8 a.m. As soldiers moved into the tents that day, the transformers had still not arrived. Smaller generators were put into place to power the bathrooms, but as day turned into night the rest of the tent city was still without power or air-conditioning. 

By the time the transformers got here at 11:30 p.m., the soldiers were sleeping in tents without air-conditioning, lights or power, said Lt. Col. Michael Roth, 380th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron commander. 

Upon receiving the transformers, Airmen from the 380th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron transloaded the transformers and brought them to the tent city. Then Airmen of the 380th ECES electric shop worked through the night to finish wiring the transformers, leaving the 380th ECES Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning shop Airmen to perform quality and assurance checks on the air-conditioning, heating and ventilation units. 

By 5:30 a.m. Oct. 4, the Airmen had finished their work, bringing power to the 22 tents that housed more than 200 Soldiers. 

According to Col. Eric Pierce, 380th EMSG commander, the Army leadership on base said, it was obvious the Airmen were proud of their work, and they were very appreciative of the team effort that brought power and air-conditioning to their temporary homes.