'The Last to Let You Down': The Ascension of the Aircrew Survival Equipmentman Rating

SOUTH CHINA SEA, AT SEA

06.22.2014

Courtesy Story

USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73)

By Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice
Oscar Albert Moreno Jr.

SOUTH CHINA SEA – The roar of the engines can be heard as F/A-18 Super Hornets are launched from the U.S. Navy’s forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) to perform their missions without a doubt that they can recover from any casualty thanks to aircrew survival equipmentman (PR).

PRs date their origins back World War II and the advancement of aviation warfare.

“There was an increased demand for parachutes and their preparation for the war,” said Chief Aircrew Survival Equipmentman Keith Sherman, Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department 800 Branch chief petty officer. “The Navy then formed the parachute repairman rating, whose sole mission was to prepare parachutes to aid the war effort.”

As the Navy evolved with the introduction of newer aircraft models, the parachute repairman rating grew into the aircrew survival equipmentman rating.

“The growth of the Navy and its aviation operations allowed for the expansion of our mission,” said Aircrew Survival Equipmentman 2nd Class Jason Wayne Mahon, from Alda, Nebraska. “As part of the Aviation Life Support System division, our mission consists of ensuring that all escape, environmental and fire extinguishing systems, life rafts and life preservers, anti-exposure suits, emergency signaling equipment, flight helmet, oxygen equipment and other miscellaneous survival and life support items are operating to their maximum capacity.”

The vast amount of tasks that PRs have to perform shows the necessity of this rating.

Our motto is ‘the last to let you down’,” said Sherman. “Our rate ensures that whoever pilots the aircraft can make it out of a life or death situation. There is no room for error here. The lessons that we have learned and passed down are written in the blood of every service member that has laid their life to protect America,=.”

Whenever an aircraft takes off from the flight deck, pilots can perform their mission with a sound mind knowing that PRs have done their part to ensure they will be able to safely walk out of any situation.

George Washington and its embarked air wing, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, provide a combat-ready force that protects and defends the collective maritime interest of the U.S. and its allies and partners in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

• Date Taken: 06.22.2014
• Date Posted: 06.22.2014 14:25
• Story ID: 133958
• Location: SOUTH CHINA SEA, AT SEA