Materiel Management Flight "You don't fly without supply"
SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany - --
Sitting under the glow of fluorescent lights inside an office, or facing the punishing elements checking identification cards at the front gate, or turning wrenches on the flightline provide the back drop for many Spangdahlem Airmen.
But for a handful of Airmen in the 52nd Logistics Readiness Squadron materiel management flight, a typical day starts at 7:30 a.m., just as the warm sun starts to rise over the horizon. The view of a silhouette of the air traffic control tower serves like a sundial with its shadow cast along the flight line. This view awaits the unit's Airmen as they pull into the parking lot of one of the unit's main warehouses to report for duty.
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U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Chris Curry, a 52nd Logisitcs Readiness Squadron physical inventory control journeyman from Dawson, Ill., walks down a aisle inside a warehouse March 9, 2015, at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. Curry deployed here from the 86th LRS out of Ramstein, Germany. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Rusty Frank/Released)
Inside the cavernous warehouse, the beeping of a forklift backing up and the rumble of delivery trucks picking up and dropping off equipment echoes off its white walls and gray cement floor. Airmen walk down long rows surrounded by tall shelves that rival the height of most buildings on base. The shelves hold cardboard boxes full of inventory neatly piled up so high a, bystander could think one of those crates may house the Ark of the Covenant.
Yet the warehouse serves as the location and its contents as the tools M-Flight Airmen stock, recover and track as part of the 52nd Fighter Wing's mission of defending American and allied interests while building partnership capacity.
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U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Austin Spurling, a 52nd Logistics Readiness Squadron physical inventory control journeyman from Lincoln, Neb., inventories assets inside a warehouse March 9, 2015, at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. Spurling ensures all assets are accounted for and ready to accomplish the mission of the 52nd Fighter Wing. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Rusty Frank/Released)
The duty of making sure the smallest piece of equipment remains in reserve falls on the shoulders of Airmen like U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Austin Spurling, a 52nd LRS physical inventory control journeyman from Lincoln, Nebraska.
"It's more than just counting - it's keeping accountability and ensuring whenever an asset is needed, it will be there to accomplish the mission," Spurling said. "I take a lot of pride as an inventory control journeyman."
Spurling said his section represents just a part of the larger picture of the flight that comprises other sections of the unit to include customer service, mobility, equipment, flight service section and the mobility spares package section.
U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Jeremy Grider, 52nd LRS materiel management flight chief from Warren, Arkansas, added that all of these sections affect the base's mission in their distinct ways.
"We provide the things needed to keep planes in the air - from parts to support equipment," said Grider. "When I was an airman 1st class, we had a mural on the wall that I still remember: 'An aircraft is nothing more than an orderly formation of parts provided by Supply and put together by maintenance.' The bottom line - 'you don't fly without Supply.'"
The painting may be somewhere else since he tacked on six more stripes, but Grider credited the devotion of the flight's 103 military and civilian personnel to keeping its message true at Spangdahlem.