IPE serves, protects

  • Published
  • By Tyler Grimes
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Staying ready for the fight is one of the most important responsibilities of being in the Air Force. Part of that responsibility includes readying the equipment when Airmen need it most. This is the responsibility of the 60th Logistics Readiness Squadron, which maintains the Individual Protective Equipment.

"Our main job here is to issue out all of the items that a member might need when they deploy," said Staff Sgt. Tyler Derby, 60th LRS IPE warehouse operations supervisor.

The items are divided into rows of bins and then sorted into A-bags, B-bags and C-bags. The A-bag contains general items an Airman may need down-range, while the B-bag consists of cold weather gear for deployment to more arctic climates and the C-bag has all the equipment an Airman may need in a chemical combat zone, he said. "We play a vital role in the readiness of the wing."

In the event of an emergency, the IPE team is prepared for such a situation.

"We have staged mobility bags that are already pre-built," he said. "If there was a mass deployment of the wing, they are maintained in the back and ready to go."

In addition to keeping Airmen ready to deploy, Derby and his team maintain the equipment, manage inventory and check the shelf-life of perishable assets to preserve readiness. To assist the Airmen keep track of the assets, they are trained on a computer-based system. "We can check the shelf-life based on contracts, lot numbers and data manufactures."

To maintain this equipment, the 60th LRS technicians must check each piece to ensure that it is ready to go at any moment. "We work in the back warehouse and we inventory to make sure the suits will not expire when someone's out on a deployment," said Senior Airman Melvin Broom, 60th LRS IPE technician.

Beyond inventory maintenance, the IPE technicians are trained on a variety of tasks including customer service, using heavy equipment such as forklifts and how to unload the inventory.

In addition, the IPE Airmen are trained to handle, maintain and issue small arms stored in the weapons vault, Derby said.

"We have about 2,000 M-16s, M-9s and M-4s to support the wing," said Tech. Sgt. Timothy Watts, IPE weapons vault NCO in charge.

When it comes to mission readiness, LRS leads the way in every aspect, Derby said.