Putting the 'go' in cargo

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jacob Morgan
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  The 436th Logistics Readiness Squadron Material Handling Equipment Maintenance shop works on more than 135 vehicles worth more than $44.2 million. They range from baggage conveyers on the flightline to forklifts that can lift more than 50,000 pounds.

The 436 LRS, the 436th Aerial Port Squadron and several other base agencies depend upon the vehicles the handling equipment maintenance shop maintains. The forklifts and cargo loaders are the only tools to load the more than 221,000 tons of cargo Team Dover shipped out last year.

"I love being a mechanic," said Senior Airman Tyler Craig, a maintenance handling equipment journeyman with the 436 LRS. "Without our equipment and maintenance, nothing would get loaded."

The MHE shop completes all of this work with more than 30 percent of their force deployed and almost half of the remainder being apprentices in the trade. In the last year, they have cut man-hours, increased production, and had no major incidents.

"We recently did a little in-house AFSO21 (Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century)," said Gary Eley, the supervisor of the 436 LRS MHE shop. "We now have our guys working four - 10 hour-days, allowing for a three-day weekend. It has increased morale and production all at once."

The shop has a mandatory on-call team for off-duty emergencies in maintenance. In 2009, the shop averaged nine to 10 calls a month, said Eley. This year, they have been averaging four calls per month.

The 60,000 pound loaders, referred to as the cadillac of the fleet, have seen more than 10,000 hours of work with zero breakdowns and zero mission delays, said Eley.

The success of the shop tends to help teach the new members pretty fast, said Craig.
"When a new member comes in, we team them with a more experienced worker," said Craig. "It can be hard, but members need to get the experience quickly."

Getting experience fast is something Craig is used to. He was deployed as an apprentice in MHE and was on convoy operations of more than 35 tractor-trailers, as the only mechanic, by mid-deployment.

Moving more than 10,000 miles during 11 missions, Craig went from working on forklifts and cargo loaders to Mine Resistant Armor Plated vehicles and Humvees.

"You have to have common sense to move from vehicle to vehicle," said Craig. "Working at the MHE shop here definitely helped me when I was deployed."