HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- The 635th Materiel Maintenance Group has a vast inventory to manage and relies on the skilled Airmen of the 635th Materiel Maintenance Support Squadron to ensure everything stays organized and mission-ready.
The 635th MMSS is responsible for inventorying all Basic Expeditionary Airfield Resource Base assets, including over 5,000 containers, 17,000 hand equipment assets and over 300,000 hand spares/support assets, which takes three years to record.
“If anything happens worldwide or whenever our nation calls for the equipment we have stored here, we make sure that it’s all inventoried, prepped, and staged while making sure that we can deploy our equipment to any taskers,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Rielly Enriquez, 635th MMSS decentralized materiel support inspection supervisor.
The 635th MMSS is comprised of about 150 personnel and encompasses several flights. The team stays ready to deploy any equipment and personnel within 72 hours of being tasked.
These flights consist of the petroleum oil and lubricants flight, vehicle management flight, traffic management office, ground transportation, vehicle maintenance and more.
“It’s very interesting here because of the war reserve materiel that we work with,” said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Sean Helm, 635th MMSS first sergeant. “You have people who show up here who have either never worked on WRM or have only worked on WRM their entire career. However, these Airmen are responsible for a side of supply that not that many people get to see in their careers.”
Airmen from the 635th MMSS conducts training with Airmen from the 49th Wing to prepare them for using the equipment down range.
“Being a tenant unit can sometimes be difficult because your supporting agencies are not from the same wing,” said Helm. “However, with the phenomenal relationship we have with the 49th Wing, we can call and get support whenever we have any issues and we can provide training to Airmen from the 49th Wing with the equipment we have here.”
With the unique situation of being under a different wing, the Airmen from the 635th MMSS can overcome that challenge and complete any given tasks at hand.
“The Airmen here realize that what they’re doing is different and understand the importance of inventory,” said Helm. “Sometimes it’s easy for Airmen here to get stuck in the day-to-day of thinking that they’re just going to be counting equipment, however, if you reinforce the importance of their job and how important the assets here on BEAR Base are, they absolutely crush it.”