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NEWS | Oct. 3, 2007

Charleston Airmen merge life support, survival equipment

By Airman Melissa White 437th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

Despite any differences, the Air Force has decided to merge two career fields because of their overlapping similarities as a lean initiative to save time, money and manpower.

On July 1, survival equipment (2A7X4) and aircrew life support (1T1X1) Airmen merged. Both career fields on Charleston AFB and the entire Air Force will be merged into one Air Force Specialty code, aircrew flight equipment (1P1X1), by Feb. 1, 2008.

There are currently 55 Airmen adjusting to the change on Charleston AFB. Seventeen of those Airmen are merging from survival equipment and 38 are merging from aircrew life support. The Airmen from survival equipment previously fell under the 437th Maintenance Squadron, but Airmen from both AFSCs are now in the 437th Operations Support Squadron as part of the 437th Operations Group.

With 55 people who provide equipment for more than 1,200 aircrew members, Charleston AFB has the largest aircrew flight equipment shop in the Air Force.

The mission of aircrew flight equipment is to provide Airmen with safe and effective aircrew flight equipment and programs to increase aircrew performance and protect and sustain human life during flight operations. They also provide aircrew protection from effects of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons, and they prepare members of an aircrew to survive if they need to abandon their aircraft during an emergency.

"We take pride in our job to give aircrew and passengers safe, reliable equipment to ensure survival during in-flight emergencies and survival, evasion and recovery efforts," said Master Sgt. Timothy Miller, 437th Operations Support Squadron NCO in charge of aircrew flight equipment

These Charleston Airmen inspect, repair and issue aircrew flight equipment to 437th and 315th Airlift Wings aircrews, 1st Combat Camera Squadron, 315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron and the petroleum, oils and lubricants shop.

Before the merger, aircrew life support Airmen had jobs that went around the clock, but Airmen in survival equipment had an adjustment from working 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. When they combined, Airmen from both sections were put on around-the-clock schedules with a rotation that has an Airman work one out of every six weekends.

"Working on the weekends is a big change, but I think most of them are adjusting well," said Sergeant Timothy Miller. "A big challenge for the merger is that the Airmen want to keep their roots in their own career field."

Even though there is a larger group of Airmen to help complete the mission, Sergeant Miller estimates that it will take about a year to fully train everyone on the different areas.

Different sections in aircrew flight equipment include the oxygen section, sewing, night vision goggles, flightline crew, aircrew eye and respiratory protection systems, flotation, parachute section and customer service.

To make the training easier, some members who were already assigned to a specific section are providing on-the-job training to Airmen who are new to the section.

"We have the same amount of work as we did before, but even though we have more people, it takes up a lot of time to train the Airmen on new areas," said Sergeant Miller.

Airmen in tech school will continue to be trained in either aircrew life support or survival equipment until the courses are consolidated for aircrew flight equipment. Therefore, when new Airmen in those AFSCs arrive at Charleston, they will be trained more in their respective AFSC as well as learning new skills in the other AFSC.