No air power without ground power

Published Nov. 9, 2011
By Airman Madelyn Ottem
60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The three sections of the Aerospace Ground Equipment shop - inspection and repair, support and servicing - work as a team to keep Travis aircraft in flight.

The AGE shop works hard and gears up every day to sustain serviceable aircraft. All three departments constantly undergo training, maintenance and inspection, which renders them ready for the Logistics Compliance Inspection Program, scheduled to take place Nov. 14 to 18.

Airmen in the AGE shop are ready to take on the inspection and feel prepared, according to Airman 1st Class Mandy Walden, 60th Maintenance Squadron AGE servicing section.

Airman 1st Class Harold Tatmon works in the inspection and repair section. He fine tunes, repairs and inspects equipment necessary for maintainers to work on aircraft on the flight line, such as the dash 86 generator, which is used to provide power to aircraft while having maintenance performed.

The four pillars of maintenance - safety, training, technical data and attitude - are the focus of the LCAP inspection for Tatmon and the rest of the Airmen in the AGE shop.

"I have confidence in myself and the shop because I know we work hard every day to fulfill the mission," Tatmon said.

Although inspection and repair Airmen constantly work, the shop is never short on tasks.

"Every week, there is something that needs to be inspected," Tatmon said. "Our work is never done because there is always something to fix or inspect."

In the support section, the Airmen have the major responsibility of being accountable for all the tools checked out, down to the last bolt. In addition, they are the primary resource for hazardous material disposal.

"We have 50 different types of oils that need to be properly disposed," said Tech. Sgt. Nathan Preszler, program manager of the support section.

Preszler has confidence in the support section and the Airmen working in it for the upcoming inspection.

"This shop is the cream of the crop and the results will show how hard we have worked," he said.

Airmen in the servicing section spend the majority of their time on the flightline. Their main responsibility is to refuel and deliver equipment necessary for aircraft maintainers to effectively and accurately work on the aircraft.

Walden spends her shifts in the servicing section, driving the bobtail on the flight line and inspecting generators whenever she picks them up or drop them off.

The work Walden does daily makes her feel ready for the LCAP inspection, she said.

The AGE mission is very important because without AGE the aircraft would never get fixed or fly on their scheduled times, Tatmon said.

"Our mission is to maintain AGE equipment so that we can support other missions and aircraft out on the flight line," he said. "That way the mission as a whole gets accomplished."