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6 July 29, 2016 Feature BULLSEYE
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Diverse AFE mission challenges airmen, protects lives
By Susan Garcia Weapons Support Squadron. “We have inventory, Master Sgt. Amie Edades, 57th supports these visiting units with parts
12 assigned sets [lockers] to inspect at the WPSS superintendent of AFE, compared and services, if requested.
U.S. Air Force Weapons School beginning of each day. Most other units the school’s inventory to her prior assign-
don’t have that many. For example, some ment at a ying squadron. “Every class, we have guest yers who
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev.— units on Nellis have only nine per week.” show up, and they need to borrow lockers
Six-foot-high wooden lockers line the “At my previous base, the AFE shop and equipment,” said Edades.
aircrew tting room, quiet in the early Five of the 11 USAFWS squadrons lo- had about 90 pegs [lockers] we had to
morning. Inside each locker a collection cated at Nellis share just one AFE section maintain,” said Edades. “Here at the The ability to handle such diverse
of helmets, antigravity suits, oxygen for support. ese ve squadrons y six Weapons School, we maintain AFE equipment evolves from on-the-job
connectors and other life-saving ight mission design series ranging from the equipment for 145 pegs, and we have training the AFE section provides to
equipment sits ready for the daily pre- A-10 underbolt II to the F-22A Raptor. recently requested more lockers to build supplement an airman’s technical school
Each series requires a di erent set of AFE our total up to 210 to accommodate the training.
ight inspection. equipment, which the AFE personnel growth of the school. And, that new
Soon, a U.S. Air Force Weapons must be able to maintain. number doesn’t include the 40 pegs we’ll “Our shop tends to receive more air-
need when the F-35 course begins.” men straight out of tech school than
School aircrew flight equipment spe- “Every single day, we work on the any other AFE section on Nellis,” said
cialist will ensure each item meets high F-15s, F-16s, F-22s and the A-10s,” said e additional lockers are needed be- Edades. “ ese airmen are not only new
standards for safety and survivability. Faulkner. “We have to touch all of that cause the USAFWS will soon begin new to the AFE career eld but also to the Air
gear. Some of it is the same, but a lot of courses, adding the F-35A Lightning II Force. Getting them up to speed in a busy
e aircrew relies on this specialist to it is di erent. We have to use the TOs and the HC-130J Combat King II to its AFE shop like the Weapons School’s is
know that di erent con gurations re- [technical orders] to ensure we know the repertoire of aircra . e AFE section especially challenging.”
quire specialized equipment. ey trust exact speci cations for the equipment plans to adjust to the addition of these
this person with their lives. we’re working on.” courses with a satellite o ce. e challenges of handling various
types of equipment at the USAFWS
e AFE section of the USAFWS is “At my last shop, they only ew heli- Other USAFWS squadrons plan to are o set by many positive aspects. For
up to the challenge of a unique mission copters, so I had ve relevant TOs that increase the number of personnel in their instance, working with the students
that requires them to know about and I used, which were each about two or courses, which also translates to a greater teaches AFE personnel to be patient and
handle equipment for many different three pages long,” Faulkner added. “Here demand for AFE equipment. In addition, diplomatic.
types of aircra . at the Weapons School, I use seven TOs the section’s workload increases when
on a daily basis that are each about 10 other organizations come to Nellis to AFE personnel strive to take unsafe
“I think people tend to underestimate pages long.” support the USAFWS. e AFE section or inoperable equipment from students
the Weapons School’s workload, which and turn it around quickly because they
I’ve heard is the busiest AFE shop on Nel- To show the di erences in equipment ____________ See AFE, on page 7
lis,” said Senior Airman Aaron Faulkner,
an AFE specialist assigned to the 57th
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