Photo By Stephen Hudson | Staff Sgt. Tim Alewine, a munitions specialist with the 451st Expeditionary...... read more read more
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KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – The work is hot and dusty, but crucial. The Ammo Dawgs of the South Carolina Air National Guard’s 169th Fighter Wing currently assigned to the 451st Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron here know their job may be behind the scenes, but there are others counting on them.
When American, or coalition forces, on the ground need air power, they can be confident the South Carolina Air National Guard’s F-16s providing close air support overhead will put firepower right where it’s needed. That firepower is supplied by the airmen working tirelessly at the Tri-National Ammunition Supply Point located at Kandahar Airfield. They are the key to success, because without them these F-16s cannot do the mission.
“We build the bombs that make the planes lethal,” said Tech. Sgt. Wendell Rollins, a munitions specialist from the 169th Fighter Wing at McEntire Joint National Guard Base, S.C., assigned to the 451st EMXS here. “There are times we load an aircraft and we know in just a few minutes it is going to take off for a mission.”
The ordinance is a life saver for the guys on the ground and the airmen who build the munitions know their work can mean life or death for soldiers and Marines who need the ordinance to work right the first time and every time.
The mission of the 451st Air Expeditionary Wing is persistent powerful presence, and the members of the 169th Fighter Wing, who are deployed to KAF in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, are at the leading edge of that mission. The Swamp Fox F-16 pilots provide close air support and their role is critical to the soldiers and Marines they may never meet.
Work goes on around the clock at the Tri-National Ammunition Supply Point seven days a week, building primarily GBU-38s and 54s. They also work with anything on the F-16 including 20mm rounds, chaff, and flares. Since the Swamp Foxes have rotated to Kandahar Airfield in April they have built more than 25,000 pounds of munitions.
“It is serious business,” said Senior Airman Sherman Padgett, a munitions specialist also currently assigned to the 451st EMXS. “Someone is counting on these bombs, and if they don’t function then our guys could be dying.”
The hard work of the munitions troops is not lost on the pilots who count on that work.
“The people in munitions are directly responsible for the confidence the guys on the ground have in Vipers’ efficiency in close air support,” said Capt. John “Vapor” Sparks, an F-16 pilot with the South Carolina Air National Guard’s 157th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron deployed to Kandahar Airfield. “A lot of trust is put in the weapons working the correct way the first time.”
This critical work will go on as long as there is a need and the airmen who work in munitions will press on knowing the importance and value of what they do.
| Date Taken: | 06.20.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 06.21.2012 00:40 |
| Story ID: | 90358 |
| Location: | KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, AF |
| Web Views: | 277 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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