News Search

AFGSC augmentees aid Team Minot

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jonathan McElderry
  • Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs
 

Seven Air Force Global Strike Command augmentees traveled to Minot Air Force Base to help remove snow from Jan. 13 to Feb. 10.

The winter brought more than 40 inches of snow to Minot AFB in less than 30 days, which led to the Airmen volunteering to help with snow removal efforts here.

The augmentees included six Airmen from Ellsworth AFB and one Airman from Malmstrom AFB.

“We don’t get as much snow at Malmstrom as these guys do here, so it was cool to come here and help them out,” said Senior Airman David Cline, pavement and equipment operator with the 341st Civil Engineer Squadron at Malmstrom AFB, Montana.

Cline also noted how over the course of the month here, the augmentees worked 1,200 incident-free operating hours with 5,250 round trips to snow dumps.

“We were steadily working, but when we looked at our impact over the entire month, it was significant,” Cline said.

Senior Airman Jose Perez, electrical power production journeyman with the 28th CES at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, also talked about how their work here has been very productive.

“We’ve been working six days a week moving snow around with dump trucks and equipment just to complete the mission,” Perez said.

He also mentioned that while he was away from his family, there was something special about getting the opportunity to come to a different base for a month.

“The unique thing about being here is I get to be out of my comfort zone,” Perez said. “I like to take the opportunity to do things a lot of people normally wouldn’t do, and I’m just glad to be part of an impact at another base.”

Perez also talked about how his time here had a great impact on him.

“My experience here has been fun, productive and satisfying,” Perez said. “We’ve moved more than 40,000 cubic yards of snow from different areas of the base so it’s nice to know I helped another base’s mission.”

Cline and Perez noted their favorite part about being here was the comradery between Airmen from different bases.

They also said if given the opportunity, they would come back to help out the base again next year.

"With all the snow that comes here, it just makes sense to come back next winter," Perez said.