Did you Know?

  • Published
  • By TSgt. George Cloutier
  • 439th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
WESTOVER AIR RESERVE BASE, Mass. --  You may have heard their triumphant slogan at Commander's Calls: "Who's the best? LRS!" But the team that shouts together when the wing is gathered is actually six separate teams with six different missions, spread out across the length of the flight line.

"LRS is kind of a complicated 'animal'," said Lt. Col. Michael Buoniconti, commander of the 439th Logistics Readiness Squadron. "We have fuels, vehicle maintenance, vehicle ops, supply, traffic management office and plans. Because there are six different pieces, it doesn't lend itself to a catch phrase. All that stuff comes together, though, to support the larger mission."

CMSgt. Michael Barna, LRS superintendent, said the unit touches everything that goes on base. "There isn't one unit that doesn't have contact with us," he said.

Vehicle Maintenance: For anyone who has ever picked up or taken a ride in a government vehicle, that was LRS or their civilian counterparts, Phoenix Management Inc., behind the wheel or behind the counter handing over the keys.

"We have about 350 vehicles in the fleet; there are 11 civilians here during the week and there's 12 military mechanics here on the weekends," said MSgt. Victor Markey, vehicle training flight training manager. "I have two guys who are both -- they've helped out a lot with the relationship between the contractors and the reserves."

Vehicle Ops: Vehicle operations flight Airmen drive the equipment. MSgt. Bruce Lamay, vehicle operations flight NCOIC. cited the flight's involvement in last summer's Great New England Airshow.

"We moved over 200,000 people at the air show," Lamay said.

TMO: The Airmen and civilians of the LRS Supply Flight and Travel Management Office are the ones who track down supplies, from aircraft parts to equipment for deployers. They also obtain materials for other bases.

"At Westover, there's a system where other bases can see what we have in inventory and then they can say 'Ok, we need that flap, and then supply will bring a request for it up to us," said TSgt. David Suchicicki, TMO NCOIC.

According toTSgt. Suchicicki, a lot of the orders TMO gets are known as MICAPS, or Mission Impaired Capability Awaiting Parts. These are parts not stocked here at Westover that have to be obtained from other bases and facilities.

"A MICAP is category 1, mission priority; get it to us as soon as you can," Suchicicki said.

Supply: SMSgt Geri Ridzon, 439th LRS Material Management Supervisor provided more detail on how Westover LRS handled the 480 MICAPS they received last year.

We start the MICAPS process," she said. "Maintenance orders the part. If it's not on base, we back-order it for them."

Fuels: MSgt. Joe McCormick, fuels flight chief, makes sure Westover's planes have the fuel they need to fly and all the base equipment is gassed up and good-to-go.

"We distributed 8.6 million gallons of fuel and the air show over 27 sorties and 15 planes," MSgt. McCormick said.

Plans and Operations: Providing planes with the fuel they need to move downrange is one thing. Providing Airmen with the support they need to move downrange is another. Any Airman who has every deployed out of Westover is familiar with the Plans and Integration Flight. They coordinate the movement of Westover Airmen to and from the AOR (Area of Responsibility).

"We manage all deployment functions from the biggest of big picture theoretical planning all the way down to one single deployer going out," said MSgt. Chuck Carlin, Logistics Plans and Integration Flight NCOIC.

Carlin spoke of the particular challenges Plans and Integration faces getting people to their deployments and and back.

"We have to catch everything," he said. "There's probably a mistake in every deployment at some step. We have to catch it, fix it, talk to the right people at the MAJCOM and make sure it gets fixed."

...now you know.