Dover AFB

Senior Airman Niko Medina-Portillo, an apprentice aerospace ground equipment mechanic with the 512th Maintenance Squadron, oils a generator May 23, 2012, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. The Aerospace Ground Equipment Flight is responsible for maintaining the majority of aircraft maintenance equipment on the flightline. (U.S. Air Force photo by Adrian R. Rowan)

Dover AFB

Airman 1st Class Daniel Calhound, an aerospace ground equipment mechanic with the 436th Maintenance Squadron, adjusts bolts on a piece of ground equipment May 23, 2012, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. The Aerospace Ground Equipment Flight is responsible for maintaining the majority of aircraft maintenance equipment on the flightline. (U.S. Air Force photo by Adrian R. Rowan)

Dover AFB

Airman 1st Class Julian Cardenas, an aerospace ground equipment mechanic with the 436th Maintenance Squadron, affixes a chafing guard to a generator May 23, 2012, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. The Aerospace Ground Equipment Flight is responsible for maintaining the majority of aircraft maintenance equipment on the flightline. (U.S. Air Force photo by Adrian R. Rowan)

Dover AFB

Senior Airman Karl Witt, aerospace ground equipment mechanic with the 436th Maintenance Squadron, loosens a bolt on a piece of ground equipment May 23, 2012, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. The Aerospace Ground Equipment Flight is responsible for maintaining the majority of aircraft maintenance equipment on the flightline. (U.S. Air Force photo by Adrian R. Rowan)

Danger is no stranger to an AGE ranger

Published May 24, 2012
By Airman 1st Class Samuel Taylor
436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. -- Team Dover's flightline sees its fair share of visitors from the far corners of the world. Some aircraft have returned from sand-blasted runways where they offloaded critical cargo in overseas combat zones; some have recently completed polar over-flights; others carry fallen service members back to their final resting place. Each aircraft is unique, with one exception - they all require maintenance. To accomplish this challenge maintenance equipment must be kept in top condition, for which the aircraft maintainers rely on a group of specialists to which danger is no stranger: AGE rangers.

Airmen with the 436th Maintenance Squadron's Aerospace Ground Equipment flight keep the maintenance equipment in prime condition for the aircraft maintainers responsible for the 20 assigned aircraft and numerous transient aircraft here. Their mission is kept moving by a revolving shift of approximately 15 Airmen and civilians working in the maintenance area at all times. It is a small shop with a dynamic mission.

"There is no routine job in the AGE shop. Every day is a completely new challenge," said Senior Airman Anthony Luna, AGE journeyman with the 436th Maintenance Squadron. "We've fixed just about every [maintenance issue] you can think of."

As Luna said this, a passing Airman mentioned, "we just cleared that animal's nest out of the [DASH-86 Generator]."

"It happens," said Luna.

Though jobs like ousting a pack of feral freeloaders may seem trivial to some, the result is nothing short of essential to one of the largest aerial ports in the world. The cargo planes of Dover AFB deliver approximately 15,000 tons of cargo per month to the war-fighting region, or 70 percent of the total sustainment cargo shipped downrange. Successful aircraft departures depend on successful maintenance; successful maintenance depends on AGE.

"We get our motivation from the fact that if we don't do our job, the flights from [base] get delayed," said Luna. "When we see a plane safely take-off on its mission, we know it's a job well done."