MEDIA CONTEST: Last to let you down

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Inside a small building with a little tower, no more than a handful of workers maintain much of the survival equipment of Minot's B-52 aircrews.

Much of the equipment over at the 23rd Bomb Squadron Life Support, such as parachutes rafts and anti-exposure suits is maintained by the 5th Maintenance Squadron Survival Equipment specialists.

"The bulk of what we do is maintain parachutes," said Tech. Sgt. Jason Long, 5th MXS Survival Equipment NCOIC.

Parachutes can take up to four hours to inspect and pack, said Sergeant Long.
"These chutes are very different from a skydiver who is making a premeditated jump," said Sergeant Long. "This chute is only used in an emergency, one time."

There is no space for a backup chute because of the other equipment such as a 10-minute supply of oxygen.

"This one chute has to work properly," said Sergeant Long. "There is no second chance with this chute."

In addition, there is a ripcord that deploys the chute at approximately 14,000 feet that must always be well maintained because an individual could become unconscious during a jump.

Besides parachutes, the survival equipment specialists also maintain the B-52's decelerator deployment (or drag) chute.

"The B-52 does not have reverse thrust on its engines, so each time it lands here it deploys a decelerator deployment chute," said Sergeant Long. "It helps prevent the normal wear and tear of the brakes."

The drag chute is approximately 44 feet in diameter and it only takes Airmen about 20 minutes to fold and get it back into its pack to deploy again.

The chutes need the highest maintenance as do B-52 crew's anti-exposure suit, which is custom fitted and must be worn each time they fly over water.

Much of survival equipment's work includes sewing.

Inside the little building are several sewing machines and Airmen with needle and thread.

"I never thought I'd have to learn to sew, especially when I joined the Air Force," said Sergeant Long. "Pretty much anything with a protective covering on it here on base, we'll end up sewing one thing or another on it."

"It's definitely a part of the job you get laughed at for," said Staff Sgt. Patrick Francis, 5th MXS Survival Equipment section chief. "That is until someone wants something sewn."
Each survival equipment shop at other bases can very different.

"Depending on where you're stationed, you can see a lot of different equipment," said Sergeant Francis. "If you were stationed at an F-16 base you would be working on ejection seats much more than we do here."

Both Sergeants Long and Francis commented that if they were stationed at Dover Air Force Base, Del., they would maintain escape slides just like the one visible in many of the photos of the C-5 Galaxy accident that happened at Dover AFB Monday.

But maintaining all this survival equipment does not make these Airmen nervous.
Each piece of equipment maintained is thoroughly inspected each time before it is used.

"We see our planes deploy their [decelerator] chutes everyday, so we know were doing our job right, said Sergeant Long.

"It's all checks and balances," said Sergeant Long. "I'd trust this equipment to anyone, even my own mom."