Air Force civilian ensures efficient missile maintenance

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Sean D. Smith
  • Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. (AFNS) --  The Leo Marquez Award recognizes Air Force personnel for outstanding performance in areas like financial efficiency and managerial skills.

This year, the award went to Robert Mintie, a 91st Maintenance Operations Squadron production controller here.

Mintie manages large-scale maintenance on missile sites, long-range maintenance programs and sustainment and modification programs. He also won the Leo Marquez, at the Air Force level, in 2009.


"We have depot maintenance teams that are on a constant schedule," Mintie said. "They go out and do site refurbishment for the longevity of the sites. It's coordinating all that, when you have one site undergoing maintenance you have to make sure the right people are there."

Mintie's role deals heavily with time and resource management.

"With missile sites, since they're all so spread out, you want to do everything you can while you're out there," Mintie said. "So you coordinate what you can. If the site is under maintenance for a certain program, is there anything else we can get done while we're all out there?"

Mintie said he is only one of several individuals who work to keep maintenance scheduling as efficient and economical as possible.

"A small part of what I do is reactionary, like if something breaks suddenly," Mintie said.

When that happens, Mintie tries to work that repair into the existing schedule with the least possible disruption.

"I make sure there's no work stoppage," Mintie said. "When you take a site down for this maintenance, a lot of people need to know you can't just shut it down."

Mintie's task is to save the Air Force time and money, and if these awards give any indication, he's doing a good job.

"Bob is a critical part of the 91st Maintenance Group's day-to-day operations," said Capt. Justin Ahrens, the 91st Maintenance Operations Squadron maintenance operations flight commander. "He has a vast amount of experience, knowledge and longevity which provides the group with much needed continuity to the Plans and Scheduling section."

"With all the activity that goes on in the missile fields, you need a central point of coordination," Mintie said. "It's to keep things moving, keep people from bumping into each other and make sure they're making the most of their time and resources."