Getting dirty produces great results for missiles shop

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Stacey Haga
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
On the other side of the runway, across from the hangars, jets and bustle of the operations buildings, a group of buildings sit among the trees.

The buildings are so far back, many people on Tyndall may not know they are even there.

However, the products maintained by the Airmen in these buildings are seen almost everyday on the flightline - missiles.

The buildings house the 325th Maintenance Squadron munitions flight that is responsible for the procurement and maintenance of aerospace munitions and provides munitions-related support.

Within the munitions flight, the precision guided missiles shop is responsible for the maintenance and inspection of the captive air training missiles used to train the F-15 pilots here.

With four flying squadrons sending missiles to the shop daily for various maintenance needs, the PGM shop often has a very-fast paced tempo.

The fast pace and heavy work load doesn't seem to phase the Airmen.

"I like the work load. It makes the day go by fast," said Senior Airman Joshua Tobin, PGM shop crewmember.

"We currently have one day shift. We used to have two, but decided consolidate them due to reduced manning," said Staff Sgt. Robert Lewis, PGM shop crew chief. "We average about 12 Airmen on the shift."

The Airmen perform maintenance on the missiles after approximately 20 flights.

A tactical missile importing system is a program also used by the shop to track the flying hours, maintenance and inspections of a missile.

The inspection of the missiles requires some dust to be kicked up and is critical for it being attached to the hanger of the jet smoothly.

"The inspection of the AIM-9 missile is every 180 days," said Sergeant Lewis "For inspection, we sand it down, repaint it, re-stencil the lettering and put the armaments back on."

The process requires time, attention to detail and a lot of manpower.

"Ideally four to five Airmen are needed for the inspection, but the more we have the better. It speeds up the process," said the sergeant.

The sanding and painting causes many safety concerns and the Airmen address these issues by wearing proper protective gear.

When sanding, Airmen resemble astronauts in white suits with face shields and respirators.

"It gets very hot and humid (in the sanding room) with all the equipment on, so they take breaks often," said Sergeant Lewis.

To address the safety concern with carrying an AIM-9, which can weight 190 lbs. when ready to launch, they use a three-person lift and carry and wear steel-toe boots.

The tough, and often, dirty job of the PGM shop is rewarding in many ways to those who work there.

"(The job) has taught me the importance of attention to detail. If we leave something out, it's a big foreign object damage hazard," said Airman Tobin.

"I like the atmosphere. They are good people to work with and they trust you do your job," said Senior Airman Adam Osheimer, PGM shop crewmember.

"(Occasionally) we will work with live missiles," said Staff Sgt. Glenn Talley, PGM shop bay chief. "We recently visually inspected and tested live AIM-7 missiles to be fired." The Airmen also participate in some of the Air Force's training exercises.

"We travel to Nellis AFB, Nev. for Red Flag and Canada for Maple Flag," said Sergeant Lewis.

"We have also gone to Key West, Fla., for dissimilar air combat training with the Navy," added Sergeant Talley.

The temporary duties often call for the Airmen to perform duties they are qualified on, but do not accomplish on a regular basis in their current assignment.

Whatever the tasking, the Airmen strive for perfection.

The PGM shop had zero write-ups from the Maintenance Standardization Evaluation Team in June, which is an example of the shop's dedication to excellence.