Civil engineers at work

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Mara Title
  • AFNEWS
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany --  Every Air Force job is vital in order to accomplish the mission. But it's safe to say that the work of civil engineers affects anyone who uses power; in other words, if there's no one do to their job, it's lights out.

Take today, for example. Along with his team, SSgt Brian Sawyer, is attempting to fix some lights that went out on the Ramstein Air Base flightline. Although they appear undaunted, the task seems a little bit overwhelming, as the poles are 80 feet high. Since the buckets on the back of their truck can't reach that high, they'll have to lower the gigantic pole themselves.

When asked what he loves most about his job, SSgt Sawyer, an electrical systems craftsman, said, "Just being able to help run the Air Force mission, because even during snowstorms, rain, shine, if a vital building goes down, loses power, we're the first ones out there to respond to make sure it gets back up, quick."

He also said that whether he's, "Outside, inside...[he] doesn't have to be in the same building every single day."

But today SSgt Sawyer is working outside on that pesky light. Once the pole is lowered, they switch out the giant light bulbs, only to find the bulbs aren't the problem.

"Now we have to look further into our system, and maybe change out transformers, replace fuses, and see what happens from there," added SSgt Sawyer.

They'll have to do some more troubleshooting to figure out what went wrong, because for these Airmen, there's more than one way to change a light bulb.