Page 1 - Nellis AFB Bullseye 6-5-15

Vol. 65 No. 22
June 5, 2015

Creech Airman resurrects AGE equipment, saves AF thousands

By Senior Airman Adarius Petty

432nd Wing/432nd Air Expeditionary Wing
Public Affairs

CREECH AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Adarius Petty
— Since fiscal 2013, the Air Force has
faced the effects of sequestration, result- Tech Sgt. Kasey Hollinger, 432nd Maintenance Squadron aerospace ground equipment craftsman, poses for a photo at Creech Air Force Base, Nev.,
ing in the reduction of manning needed May 19. Hollinger repaired a self-generating nitrogen cart that had been out of commission for four years, saving the Air Force nearly $100,000.
to complete the mission while working
with a tighter budget. “Hollinger was the most experi- hose reel where the nitrogen comes complete the tasking,” Hollinger said.
enced and the nitrogen cart had to out was bad,” Hollinger said. Despite the challenges that come
With the phrase “do more with less” be fixed as soon as possible,” Chance
in the forefront of the minds of today’s said. Prepping himself for the ultimate with being undermanned, Hollinger
Airmen, the obligation to save money test in AGE maintenance, Hollinger and other AGE maintainers have sev-
is still a top priority. The nitrogen cart had numerous sized up his opponent. Before he began eral accomplishments to be proud of,
problems and had also missed sched- his task, he contemplated the cost of including surpassing and sustaining an
For Tech. Sgt. Kasey Hollinger, a uled maintenance while it wasn’t used replacing the cart with a new one. above average Air Combat Command
432nd Maintenance Squadron aero- for the four-year period it had been out passing rate on inspection.
space ground equipment craftsman, of commission. It would cost the Air Force $90,000
it was this priority that inspired him to replace the broken unit, however, He attributes a portion of his suc-
to try and complete the mission while “The cart had multiple mainte- with some time and ingenuity Hol- cess to having a small shop of Airmen
saving the Air Force nearly $100,000 — nance write ups, the system coolant linger was able to fix it for just under with infectiously positive attitudes that
starting with his own duty section first. pump and programmable logic con- $11,000. have helped build strong camaraderie
troller were shorted and the actual within his unit.
“Due to an upcoming mobility task- “It took me a total of 48 duty hours to
ing, I was assigned to fix a nitrogen
cart,” Hollinger said. “My leadership
felt I was best suited for the job.”

The self-generating nitrogen cart
is used to separate nitrogen from the
oxygen in the air and compresses it to
be used to inflate AGE equipment and
aircraft tires.

“This cart was a sole asset; it was one
out of three nitrogen carts on base but
the other two are down range support-
ing combat operations,” said Master
Sgt. Michael Chance, the 432nd MXS
assistant maintenance flight chief.

The AGE shop is authorized manning
for nearly 40 people, but within the last
few months the already undermanned
unit has lost an additional seven Airmen,
primarily to retirements and separations.

Currently, 20 individuals are re-
sponsible for more than 761 pieces of
equipment that support MQ-1 Preda-
tor and MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted
aircraft, for both home station and
deployed commitments.

Scan with Find us online at Warrior CONTENTS
your Challenge Commentary ............................ 2
smartphone Nellis AFB & Sports ........................................... 8
Nellis Bullseye Airmen sharpen Health & Wellness .............. 14
To connect skills Nellis Living ............................ 17
to our website
12 & 13