The Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson command team participated in an immersion tour of the 732nd Air Mobility Squadron March 26.
U.S. Air Force Col. Kirsten Aguilar, JBER and 673d Air Base Wing commander, and U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Lee Mills, JBER and 673d ABW command chief, learned about the squadron's mission and participated in various activities during the tour.
“At the 732nd Air Mobility Squadron, we hold a unique mission here at JBER. As an Air Mobility Command tenant unit, our main mission is Aerial Port and Maintenance support for enroute AMC missions,” said U.S Air Force Capt. Jessica Haskins, the director of operations for the 732nd AMS. ”Due to our location however, our team plays a pivotal role for the Pacific Air Forces area of responsibility in the deployment and redeployment process as the mobility experts.”
The tour kicked off at the Passenger Terminal – the interface between ground and air transportation on the installation.
The mission of the JBER Passenger Terminal is to move passengers and cargo across the Pacific. Inside of the PAX, leadership from the 673d ABW got to see how the AMC creates a safe and positive travel experience for all passengers and cargo. The tour continued at the 732nd maintenance building, where they provided maintenance on all AMC aircraft, including the C-17 Globemaster III, and the C-5 Galaxy.
From there, Aguilar and Mills stepped over to the virtual reality (VR) training environment, just like maintainers do to get comfortable working on a specific airframe and task. The virtual reality simulator provides Airmen an opportunity to train in a simulated environment before performing maintenance on the actual aircraft.
Aguilar and Mills had the opportunity to get into an ER2875 deicing truck to get a feel of the controls and the importance of that piece of equipment. Proceeding to fly without deicing an aircraft can throw off the weight and aerodynamics which can lead to fatalities and mission failure.
The tour included a stop at Combat Plans (CCX) to acknowledge and visit the Airmen and civilians who take care of all of their various types of support functions.
CCX makes sure all of the Airmen that fall under the 732nd AMS are taken care of, through upgrade training, deployment readiness, mission readiness, quality assurance and any other situation that might arise.
The tour included a demonstration of the Air Terminal Operations Center (ATOC), and the Maintenance Operations Center (MOC). ATOC is the central node of operations, coordinating information between mission planners and all of the mission partners that are required for successful mission execution. The MOC acts as the central hub for all things involving flight line and maintenance back shops.
During the MOC visit, Aguilar, with guidance from U.S. Air Force Master. Sgt. Heather Lowe, 732nd MOC superintendent, operated the CCTV camera system that provides security to the flight line. In order to keep everything in smooth working order, the team needs to know what is happening.
“The CCTV camera system allows us to have eyes on the entire ramp even when we cannot directly see the parking location from our windows,“ said Lowe. “On a normal day, we will use it to monitor our daily missions and ensure security of our aircraft. We typically keep the cameras on any aircraft that we have on the ground at the time to ensure we keep up-to-date and accurate sequence of events (SOE) times. It’s also eyes on an aircraft if we have it on the ground for longer periods of time and need to make sure the cargo is secured.“
The day continued with an Air Freight Terminal demonstration. Aguilar and Mills successfully operated a 4k electric forklift under the instruction of U.S Air Force Senior Airman Nicholas Smail, an Aircraft Services supervisor assigned to the 732nd AMS. When cargo arrives at the Air Freight Terminal, Airmen work to palletize it and weigh it before they ship it to its destination.
Arriving at their final stop on the tour, Aguilar and Mills were met by U.S Air Force Tech. Sgt. Nicole Kurtz, 732nd AMS Fleet Services noncommissioned officer in charge, to showcase the Fleet Services shop. There are two sections in the Fleet Services shop: clean and dirty. Services provided by the clean fleet depend on the needs of the aircraft. They can stock aircraft with water coolers, toiletries, pillows, blankets, coffee, ice, and meals, or anything else the passengers might need. Dirty fleet is responsible for disposing of any waste or trash on aircraft that come onto JBER.
Once the immersion ended, Airmen from the 732nd continued to execute the mission. The AMS is essential for America’s only arctic joint base to deploy mission-ready forces across the globe quickly, safely, and efficiently.
“I enjoy having the awesome opportunity to work on the flight line and load all the unique aircraft,” said U.S Air Force Airman 1st class Brian Ramirez, 732 AMS Air Transportation specialist. “Being able to experience the process of inspecting, receiving, loading cargo for deployments has been eye opening. Every day, I am exposed to different equipment and cargo you don’t see in your day to day job. I believe our job plays a vital role in executing the mission. We support all the surrounding radar sites to keep them going, or even down range getting units deployed and being able to move forces rapidly and anywhere they are needed.”
Date Taken: | 03.06.2021 |
Date Posted: | 05.07.2021 14:56 |
Story ID: | 395375 |
Location: | JBER, ALASKA, US |
Web Views: | 244 |
Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson Conducts 732nd Immersion Tour, by SrA Jack Layman, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.