TOP STORY>>No air power without ground power

By Airman 1st Class Harry Brexel
19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

“Danger is no stranger to an AGE Ranger.” That motto is heard throughout the 19th Airlift Wing aerospace ground equipment support flight. DINSTAAR is a saying that may date back to Vietnam. The story goes that AGE Airmen were under constant fire by the enemy yet they still fearlessly ran to protect their equipment that serviced planes.

AGE Airmen take pride in the motto as well as their unique job.

For every hour that an aircraft spends in the air, it spends dozens of hours on the ground being prepped. The aerospace ground equipment flight, of the 19th Equipment Maintenance Squadron takes on that task every day.

“Preflight and post flight maintenance is essential to the mission,” said Senior Master Sgt. Eric Holland, 19th Equipment Maintenance Squadron aerospace ground equipment support flight chief. “Most bases don’t have as many planes as we do, so we work hard here.”

The Little Rock Air Force Base AGE flight consists of more than 85 people who maintain the equipment that keeps planes moving. The team works on approximately 613 pieces of equipment, 24 hours a day seven days a week.

The gear that AGE rangers work on supplies electricity, air conditioning, hydraulic and air pressure support to aircraft. However, there is a plethora of equipment that AGE Airmen service, inspect and maintain. At The Rock, there are approximately 30 different types of accessories that AGE is responsible for.

“AGE is divided into three sections. We quickly deliver or dispatch equipment to planes on the flightline. We inspect and then we maintain/repair the equipment,” said Holland. “We basically maintain the integrity of all ground equipment. On average, 45 different pieces of equipment are inspected each week.”

Many pieces of the generators, air compressors and bomb lifts are older than the AGE Airmen that work on them.

“Though some of the equipment that we work on can be decades old, it isn’t necessarily a problem,” said Master Sgt. Dewayne Sora, 19th Equipment Maintenance Squadron aerospace ground equipment production superintendent. “Most of the kinks have been worked out, similar to the C130s themselves.”

Although the equipment and mission of AGE has remained constant through the years, the way in which they do it has not.

Recently the AGE flight has changed the way they get their job done.

They have initiated a program calledAir Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century. By putting a white board up for AGE Airmen to submit innovative ideas, the flight has saved time and money.

“We have better organized the equipment that we inspect. For example, motorized equipment is now on one side and non-motorized on the other,” Holland said. “We’ve also integrated welding into our job. We’ve cut back non-value hours and miles of travel by using ideas from AFSO21.”

Though there have been changes to the AGE flight, the work ethic has remained the same.