"If you ain't AMMO...."

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Ryan Whitney
  • 1st Special Operations Wing Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla --  The 1st Special Operations Wing's AC-130U is one of the most heavily armed aircraft in the Air Force inventory, capable of raining 25 mm, 40 mm and 105 mm cannon fire on multiple enemy forces in locations up to a kilometer apart.

Without a group of dedicated Airmen, these $190 million aircraft would be nothing more than an expensive flying camera.

A flight of 21 Airmen comprise the 1st Special Operations Equipment Maintenance Squadron Conventional Maintenance Element, ensuring the different special operations squadrons across Hurlburt Field have the tools needed to support the warfighter from the skies.

This is no small task considering the 1st SOW expends more than 47,000 rounds of munitions a month, ranging from offensive measures like 105 mm rounds to defensive chaff and flares.

"These are some of the best Airmen that I have worked with in my career, and have handled everything the wing has thrown at them without question," said Master Sgt. Troy Lindberg, noncommissioned-officer in charge of the 1st SOEMS CME. "Everyone has their part to play in the Air Force to achieve the mission, but the pride and hard-work these Airmen put in is above and beyond, especially lately when we have been asking a lot of everyone."

Earlier in the year, Airmen inspecting the ammunition began noticing a common discrepancy among 105 mm Target Practice rounds used in the AC-130Us for training.

"During our checks we started to notice they all had the same problem; fuses that had heavy corrosion to the point of making them unusable," said Airman 1st Class Alesha Humble, munitions technician with the 1st SOEMS CME. "When all was said and done, there were thousands of rounds that at the time were affected by the faulty part, and these are some of the most requested round types."

Total, more than 3,000 of high caliber, high velocity cannon rounds were nothing more than explosive paperweights.

"These TP rounds are safer for the aircrew to use during training just because of the lower hazard class, as well as the supplemental charge that lets them better track and analyze their shot accuracy, so this batch loss would greatly affect their mission, so we elevated it to higher headquarters," said Lindberg.

After speaking with the item managers and the AFSOC ammunition functional manager, it was determined that Depot level maintenance would be required to correct the problem, leaving the gunship squadrons without a correct training munitions for months.

Knowing the impact this would have, both operationally and financially on the Air Force, a plan was crafted to allow Hurlburt Airmen to conduct the refusing effort in house as opposed to sending thousands of rounds of ammunition back to a depot for maintenance. Lindberg placed his faith in his Airmen and worked with the item managers to allow the munitions shop to perform the task.

"These are some of the most requested types of 105 mm rounds used, and this experience would provide our young Airmen a great experience that most would never get," Lindberg said. "Instead of complaining about having to do this extra work in addition to the normal heavy operations tempo we support, everyone kept the same positive attitude, knuckled down and are working hard to get the job done."

The process to switch the faulty part initially took three people 15 minutes to maintain one round. Since that time early in November, that process has been streamlined so that two Airmen can switch out fuses in little more than two minutes.

Since the first new fuse was received and installed, the production has increased nearly 500 percent from approximately 30 rounds in a day to 150, on top of the normal requests from squadrons across base for ammo. What makes this heavy workload possible, as Lindberg and the Airmen of the conventional maintenance element can attest, is a strong team mentality.

"It's a lot of work, but we all get along and enjoy coming to work together, and it's given us a great experience other shops don't have," said Senior Airman Josh Martin, Munitions technician with the 1st SOEMS CME. "I love the job here and wouldn't trade it for anywhere else...except for being deployed. While deployed you just have to focus on doing the job, and knowing that what the ammo you're supplying has a real purpose."