Life support technicians inspect, maintain survival equipment

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Shad Eidson
  • 416th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
KARSHI-KHANABAD AIR BASE, Uzbekistan (AFPN) --  The 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron's life support section is full of aircrew life support technicians who work hard every day since their work can mean "life or death" for C-130 Hercules aircrews and passengers.

Life support equipment always has to be in tip-top condition to be ready whenever a mishap may occur. Airmen rigorously inspect all equipment because any one piece could make the difference surviving an in-flight emergency.

“I like to get the job done correctly because I know people's lives are at stake," said Master Sgt. Raymond France, a life support technician deployed from Carswell Field, Texas.

The sergeant said their maintenance of life support equipment, especially those that stay on the aircraft, provides necessary protection for emergency situations. However, in a deployed environment, the other critical aspect of their job is the training they give to aircrew members.

"Being an instructor is my favorite part of the job," said Sergeant France, who started his military career in the Marine Reserve. "I really enjoy showing people how to use the equipment and teaching them life saving actions. Out of all my careers, I enjoy my work in life support the most."

Life support is responsible to not only give classes on equipment, but to refamiliarize combat survival and water survival that aircrews learned from their survival school training. The primary training is completed in the United States, but in a deployed environment, technicians provide the refresher training so they stay up to speed and stay alive, Sergeant France said.

"The best part of this deployment is working with all the different agencies and getting to learn about their different jobs," said Senior Airman Rhodelyn Palisoc, a life support technician deployed from Yokota Air Base, Japan.

"This deployment has been unique to see the relations of Air National Guard, active-duty and Reserve units integrated," said Senior Airman Rob Wolfe, a life support technician deployed from the West Virginia Air National Guard's 130th Airlift Wing. "We work more closely with the aircrews than anyone else. It gets to the point that we know everyone by their first name.

"You spend most of the time inspecting the equipment and it never gets used except in an emergency,” he said. “But then when it they use it, you feel that all that hard work paid off and saved someone's life.”

Life support provides helmets, oxygen masks, parachutes, body armor, survival vests, life rafts, restraint harnesses, night-vision devices and weapons among other equipment items that have to be inspected regularly.

"We live by the phrase, 'Their life is in our hands,'" said Master Sgt. Karen Droste, noncommissioned officer in charge of the life support section who is deployed from the Georgia Air National Guard's 165th AW. "We also follow a phrase taken from survival school: 'Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.' I have not forgotten this phrase from survival school, and it helps me stay focused on a daily basis to always do my job right the first time."

Besides providing emergency equipment onboard the C-130 and training on life support equipment, technicians provide refresher combat survival training to crewmembers in case they get shot down and are forced to be placed in a survival situation.

A challenge for the technicians is the constant introduction of new technology, which is good because it improves crewmember survivability or chance to be rescued, Sergeant Droste said.

"Technology is changing so rapidly that units back at their home station may not have the equipment to train on before sending someone on a deployment," she said. "When the new equipment is already in use, someone in life support has step up to the plate and get qualified on it and then train everyone else so that we can provide the support to keep aircrews alive."

It is an important job that should go unnoticed in the background, if everything goes well, Sergeant Droste said.

"Everyone (who) deployed on this rotation did an outstanding job, and I'm proud of each and every one of them," she said. "They made me look good, and there is nothing more that I could have asked for."