An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Minot's AFREP team saves AF time, money

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Thomas Dow
  • Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  The Airmen of the Minot Air Force Base Air Force Repair Enhancement Program were recognized by Ms. Ann Mitchell, Air Force Global Strike Command's Director of Logistics, Installations and Mission Support, here July 20 for their repair efforts on a vital piece of safety equipment.

Master Sgt. Jeremy Grotte, AFREP superintendent, and Staff Sgt. Sergio Aguilar, AFREP circuit card repair technician, were both coined by Ms. Mitchell for their work repairing Personal Alarm Systems used by missile maintenance and missile security forces personnel.

The PAS is designed so a security forces person has a unit on the surface at the missile site, and maintenance personnel have a transmitter down in the missile tube. If the maintenance person gets into trouble, they can talk to the person up top. Furthermore, if the person downstairs has an accident of some sort rendering them unconscious, the transmitter automatically sends an alert tone after a few seconds.

"Without this Personal Alarm System, the maintenance squadron had to get waivers to do work at the missile sites," said Sergeant Grotte. "Or they had to send out extra maintenance people and security forces to compensate for the lack of the PAS box."

A few months ago, Sergeant Grotte gave an AFREP briefing at the 91st Missile Wing's Wednesday "Stand up" briefing, where a maintainer told him that the PAS units were often broken. Sergeant Grotte had the person bring a unit to the AFREP shop so they could inspect one and try to find a solution.

"As we've found out, the fixes were simple and very inexpensive compared to the cost of a new system, which is about $7,000 per unit," said Sergeant Grotte.

Once the AFREP crew realized how easy and inexpensive it would be to fix the units in house, they began repairing them quickly at minimal cost.

"That's a prime example of how we are saving the Air Force money," said Sergeant Aguilar. "These units are $7,000 apiece, and we are fixing them for dollars. Sometimes it's just [the cost of] some solder."

It wasn't just money the Airmen of the Minot AFREP shop saved the Air Force. They were saving an even more valuable asset -- time, according to Sergeant Grotte. When the units were being sent off to be repaired, it would often take the company anywhere from 6 to 12 months to repair them, he said.

"We've seen a number of units here that have been tagged as 'broken' since as far as back 2007," said Sergeant Grotte. "We're averaging about 30 minutes per repair."

As it turns out, there are only approximately 200 of these units available Air Force-wide. The AFREP shop here has already repaired and sent 25 units back to their respective bases, and have another 122 of them on base ready to be repaired.

"When all is said and done, we'll likely be repairing about $1.03 million worth of equipment at a cost of around $5,000 in parts," said Sergeant Grotte. "But more importantly, we'll be getting units 'back into business' rather than having to get waivers or worry about broken equipment."

This is one of the reasons Sergeant Aguilar volunteered to be part of the AFREP program.

"We are here to save the Air Force money," said Sergeant Aguilar. "That's the entire reason why I came in. It keeps me motivated and it validates everything I have wanted to do in AFREP."