Summer is just a time to get ready for winter

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Kyle Johnson
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Every summer, Airmen of the 673d Logistics Readiness Squadron rebuild weary snow plows.

Winter typically falls hard on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson; without proper snow removal equipment, the installation would look like an unattended snow globe.

"It differs from year to year; this year was a very light snowfall, so we didn't have to a lot of maintenance," said Staff Sgt. Justin Olson,  vehicle-maintenance supervisor at the squadron. "A few years ago, we had a record snowfall and we had to move a lot of snow; our trucks could barely keep up with the amount we had to push off the runways."

When snowfalls like that happen, it is critical all of the equipment is fully operational. Without  it, planes would be grounded and vehicles mired to a standstill.

Due to JBER's remote location and the unique parts the vehicles use, it could be weeks for parts to come in.

By rebuilding in the summer, they reduce the risk of losing operational machines in the winter.

For the Airmen of the 673d LRS, Hangar D-29 on JBER has two seasons: winter, and preparing for winter.

"Our trucks get really beat up in the winter time, so during the summer while there's no snow on the runways, we go through an inspection process where we bring every vehicle in and go through the entire vehicle," Olson said. "We go through the typical wear-and-tear parts, change the oils, replace
the seals and get them ready for the wintertime."

When the snow melts, the plows start arriving at D-29 for inspection, the first step in the summer rebuild program.

"In April or May, they start turning in equipment," said Senior Airman Nicholas Coffee, a 673d LRS vehicle and equipment maintenance journeyman. "I go through it with our checklist. There's a series of things we look at which we know are [consistent problems]. I write [the issues] down, make a work order, and ship it to the floor supervisor at the shop."

At this point the floor supervisor processes the vehicle through his own checklist - which essentially breaks the machine down, assesses potential issues, and rebuilds it.

"After that's done, I take the two checklists and run through them to make sure it was done properly for quality assurance," Coffee said.

"It can typically take a week to three weeks depending on what goes wrong with the truck," Olson said. "Typically the summer rebuild program goes from four to five months."

The condition the trucks arrive in varies as much as the issues with the vehicles, but the mission is the same regardless what is wrong
with the equipment - they need to be fully operational before snow flies to ensure as little downtime as possible for JBER's daily operations.

"If we didn't have snow-removal equipment, this base would not operate in the winter," Coffee said. "There would be feet of snow [out] there."

The only base that typically receives more snow than JBER is Misawa Air Base, Japan.

Consequently, JBER gets the highest-quality snow removal equipment, said Staff Sgt. Bruce Green, concrete and pavement equipment operator with the 773d Civil Engineer Squadron.

There are several types of vehicles used to remove snow on JBER. Rollover snowplows are the ones that shave the snow off the roads every year.

They have a 12-foot cone of high-density plastic lined with steel blades on the front.

Just one rollover plow costs $500,000 - roughly double the price of an exotic supercar.

Green said the Dirtboyz in the 773d CES operate 252 pieces of equipment currently valued at $54.7 million.

Green said his element can move up to 140 inches of snow in the winter.

They shave the snow off the roads, then carry it out to snow dumps in trucks, where bulldozers pack it down and spread it out, ready for another layer.
This is the operation Airmen at D-29 are charged with maintaining.

"We have a certain amount of vehicles we have to keep on the road at all times. Let's say we have 10 rollover snowplows; if five of those go down, we have to order parts for them," Olson said. "It could be months before the company can redesign the parts for us and now we've got five trucks broken down; we can't move snow properly and it completely delays the mission for planes to fly."

Technicians like Olson and Coffee must be proficient in maintaining essential equipment at every base they go to and each base has it's own unique environmental difficulties which requires different kinds of equipment.

"Here we are strictly snow [equipment] maintenance, but we also have flightline maintenance, firetruck maintenance and refueling maintenance," Olson said.

"The most rewarding part of our job is we get praise for what we do here. It's exciting work to do here," Olson said. "We get our hands dirty, it's hard work and it pays off; we all love it."