Photo By Airman 1st Class Tala Hunt | U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Timothy Harris-Mincey, an ammunition troop assigned to...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — Many things go unnoticed behind the scenes of the U.S. Air Force’s aircraft – like what it takes to prepare for day-to-day warfare. The 3rd Munitions Squadron assembles the missiles, bombs and ammunition to make Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson’s F-22 Raptors, and other aircraft that land here, the war-fighting machines they are.
The 3rd MUNS conducted a bomb-build exercise here March 4. To prepare for deployments and future conflict, ammunition and weapons troops strengthened their skills by conducting exercises, which included prepping missile shipments and constructing bombs.
Put into a team of one noncommissioned officer, one crew chief and several Airmen, they kicked off the day with testing the functionality of all equipment they received from storage, which included a hoist, tail kits, a forklift, a trailer and a conveyer belt. From there, they began the bomb-building process and simulated sending them off to the flightline.
A couple of the team members tested tail kits while others began to load the bomb bodies onto the rails. Once all tail kits were tested and functioning properly, they built each bomb, one by one, by inserting the tail kits onto the bomb bodies and testing the fuses. They then loaded a total of eight bombs onto the trailer to be sent out to the flightline.
“These exercises are important, because we need to test our abilities to support the mission,” said U.S. Air Force 2nd Lt. Christine Shank, materiel flight commander for 3rd MUNS. “Bomb-building is not something we do often, but in case we have different aircraft come to
JBER, we need to be ready to support them no matter what.”
Exercises like these ensure that the U.S. Air Force continues to train their Airmen for whatever may come their way – establishing a baseline of training and readiness.
“I enjoy these exercises because we rarely get to build bombs due to the F-22s on JBER not needing them,” said U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Hadley Seals, an ammo troop for 3rd MUNS. “Being able to work with my team and NCOs who have experience building bombs for various aircraft and expanding our knowledge is beneficial, so when called upon, we’re equipped to advance the fight whenever and wherever needed. This training better prepares us to arm aircrews with what they need to complete the mission. Knowing this instills pride across our team.”
The team plans on continuing exercises similar to the bomb builds in order to enhance warrior mentality and stay ready for future conflict.
| Date Taken: | 03.04.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.11.2025 11:43 |
| Story ID: | 492449 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, ALASKA, US |
| Web Views: | 782 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, HERE COMES THE BOOM: Munitions squadron stays ready with bomb-building exercise, by A1C Tala Hunt, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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