Ammo troops build more than munitions

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Russell Wicke
  • 455th Expeditionary Operations Group Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AFPN) --  Six airmen from the 81st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron’s ammunition flight say conditions are much better here since they constructed a wooden shelter to shade their work on the munitions pad.

“Our table has an aluminum cover and by regulations, it has to be grounded,” said Master Sgt. Robert Byrd, the flight’s chief. “Out here in the sun, the pad gets hot enough to burn you.”

On this pad, Byrd said they build munitions for A-10 Thunderbolt IIs here.

“Because we work with explosives, it’s important the work environment be shaded,” said Staff Sgt. Jerrad Oaks, the 81st EFS precision-guided munitions crew chief. “Not only is it hot, but the sun reflects off the surface and blinds you.”

The airmen agree that working on explosives and having impaired vision is not a good combination.

“The unit here before us put up a tarp for the shade,” said Byrd, “but the excessive wind … shredded that thing.”

The airmen do not encounter problems like these at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, where they are stationed, because this work is done in a building, he said.

“Out here, there is no building; so we improvise,” Byrd said.

The team did not put a work order in to the civil engineers; they built it themselves.

Byrd said he believes this new cover is well worth the materials and time put into it.

“The shade will make it safer, more comfortable and result in a big morale boost,” he said.