HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- For Aircrew Flight Equipment Airmen, safety and precautionary measures are critical. On a daily basis, these team members pack parachutes, oxygen masks and prepare gear for pilots to ensure they have the proper equipment for flight. But now they are using their skills to provide additional protective gear to Airmen.
With Holloman personnel now required to wear face coverings in areas where maintaining physical distancing is not possible to accomplish mission critical tasks, the AFE shop is one of many units on base that are making face coverings for the health protection of their people.
The AFE shop may have gained a new task, but not new priorities.
“We started with four different materials and designs for the masks,” said Master Sgt. Jeff Ashton, 54th Operations Support Squadron AFE Quality Assurance noncommissioned officer in charge. “We did research on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website and even looked to see what other bases were doing. But we settled on an ‘envelope’ style made out of flight suit material with added filters for an extra layer of protection. Once we did that it was just about getting them made quickly and now we have the help of the Intel (flight) to do that.”
Ashton added that although the process was well thought out, regular operations were not compromised due to this new task or even the implementation of physical distancing.
“People are working less, but the mission has not been impacted at all,” said Ashton. “We're still knocking out the same amount of parachutes and kits so everything is still going out the door, we are still able to produce our product, pilots are still going up and sorties are still happening.”
While the AFE shop has been able to provide face coverings for their squadron, face coverings are highly encouraged for all Airmen and personnel on base regardless of distancing, and the AFE team members are willing to help others adjust to the new guidelines in any way they can.
“Right now the material we have is limited,” said Ashton. “So once we get more material in, if there are more requests we're more than happy to help out.”
This kind of initiative is just one of many, as various military and civilian personnel, spouses, and other volunteers from the community have all chipped in to also provide masks and face coverings. The 54th OSS Intelligence Flight has even joined the AFE flight to speed up their process of making face coverings.
“Working in this shop has been a lot more hands-on than our usual work,” said Senior Airman Mauricio Pazmino, 54th OSS Intelligence Flight intelligence operations analyst. “It’s out of the norm for us. But we are still ready to hit the ground running and help in any way we can.”
While the Intel team members have adjusted to this new task, the adjustment was minor for those in the AFE shop due to the nature of their job.
“AFE used to be a part of the fabrication flight and that’s why we still have sewing machines in the shop,” said Master Sgt. Christopher Cargill, 54th OSS AFE superintendent. “I think it is better for us to make these masks so that team members don’t have to buy their own or look for one. We’re kind of the sewing experts around here so we can probably make something a little more durable.”
The AFE shop may have added a product to their output but it is still business as usual; providing safety equipment required for the mission.
“A key element of AFE is figuring things out, building blueprints and going from there,” said Ashton. “We have so many personnel that have to be in contact in this squadron, we have Intel folks at all the fighter squadrons we have weather, other AFE (personnel) at the fighter squadrons and it’s important that they are protected because of the role they have in facilitating getting sorties off the ground.”