Millwrights are jacks-of-all-trades

  • Published
  • By Lanorris Askew
  • Warner Robins Air Logistics Center Public Affairs
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFPN) --  Floyd Mixon loves his job. Why else would the 65-year-old millwright still get a twinkle in his eye whenever he and his co-workers describe their trade?

“I love seeing big things move,” said Mr. Mixon, a 38-year millwright. “We can do almost anything.”

A millwright is a mechanic who builds, sets up and cares for machinery, but one look inside the Robins millwright shop shows the job of the 17-person crew involves much more.

“The millwright is a jack-of-all-trades,” said Bill Johnson, millwright shop supervisor.

Many people think the millwright’s job is a lost art in a world of state-of-the-art gadgetry, Mr. Johnson said. Somewhere between high- and low-tech, the tools of their trade include jackhammers and backhoes, but their job still requires precision. The crew also must be able to read layout plans, blueprints and other drawings in their industrial environment.

Where a string line and a level were once enough to get by, the millwrights now use laser levels and other advanced equipment to ensure foundations are precisely built to stabilize the sensitive equipment they support, officials said.

Besides constructing foundations, they also align machines and equipment. Occasionally, they will dismantle machinery.

“We are actually called metal structure mechanics, but we like the old term ‘millwright,’” Mr. Johnson said. “It’s something we have clung onto for years and don’t want to give it up. Even though the title has changed, the work is still pretty much the same. It’s just a little more extensive.”

Day-to-day duties range from installing guardrails to climbing hundreds of feet off the ground to erect bridge cranes. In fact, the only area on base they do not enter is base housing.

Ashley Holder, a member of the crew for three years, said he loves doing something different every day.

“We do a little bit of everything,” he said. “I love the challenges and the variety. One day, we could be digging holes, the next moving office partitions.”

While working big jobs, said Mr. Johnson, danger is always in the equation.

“We always have to be safety conscious,” he said. “We work with power tools -- heavy things. And, we’re off the ground a lot, so safety is paramount. We have to remind ourselves of that every day.”

Mr. Mixon, the senior member of the crew, said he loves the fact the job is not confined to one area all the time.

“It’s different daily,” he said. “You never know what you are going to be doing from one day to the next. I’m just glad to do my part to support the Air Force mission.”