Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Natalia Murillo | CAMP LEMONNIER, Djibouti (March 30, 2021) U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Garret Alvey of...... read more read more
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AEG Senior Airman at Camp Lemonnier honored as Maintenance Professional of the Year
By MC1 Natalia Murillo
It’s the middle of the day in Djibouti. The temperature is around 95 degrees with high humidity and no wind. Garrett Alvey is working outside a plane, picking into the guts of a down generator. The sweat rolls from his forehead into his eyes. Another day on the flight line at Camp Lemonnier (CLDJ).
The C-130J Hercules is down - for repairs. The generator on the flight line powers the plane when maintenance is being done. The generator's alternator is not working. If the generator isn’t fixed, the aircraft can’t fly. This is not an option that U.S. Air Force Sr. Airman Garret Alvey of Hurley, Miss. accepts. He diagnoses the generator problem and fixes the it in half the standard amount of time. He fires it up and it roars back to life.
This kind of work is what won Alvey Maintenance Professional of the Year from his home squadron.
Alvey, who joined the Air Force in July, 2018, performs aerospace ground equipment maintenance, an essential role in support of aviation. He is currently deployed to Djibouti with the Aerospace Ground Equipment department of the 75th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron (EAS).
The 75th EAS provides airlift operations in support of ground and rescue forces and rapidly responds to crisis in support of personnel recovery and other United States Government operations. The unit is deployed to Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. CLDJ is a forward operating base that enables U.S., allied and partner nation forces to be where and when they are needed to ensure security in Europe, Africa and Southwest Asia.
Despite being out of sight . . . and thousands of miles away from his home command, the 7th Equipment Maintenance Squadron (EMS) at Dyess Air Force Base, near Abilene, Tx., . . . he is not out of mind. The 7th EMS recognized Alvey as their Maintenance Professional of the Year, Airman Category even though he was deployed to East Africa.
“I received an email from our leadership back home, the 7th EMS, notifying us of who won the awards,” said Alvey’s supervisor here, Technical Sgt. Damien Shaffer from Kansas City, Mo. “I feel good because he has shown me that he is a good worker and now he is being rewarded for that good work.
The award is based on assessing all maintenance performed and the variety of platforms worked on over the course of the year. Alvey has worked on diesel generators, light carts, hydraulic test stands, nitrogen carts, LOX carts and bleed air carts. This year, there were approximately 300 other EMS Airman, competing for this award.
The accolade is significant but Alvey isn’t one to boast.
“I’m going to keep on doing what I’ve been doing,” said Alvey, humbly. “I just want to do my job the best that I can to get stuff out and running so they can do their job on the aircraft.”
Alvey comes from a family of military service. His father, Chief Boatswain’s Mate Scott Alvey, a resident of Hurley, Miss., retired in 2016 after 20 years in the U.S. Coast Guard.
Childhood memories and conversations Alvey had with his dad about military service influenced his decision to join the Air Force.
“Dad told me that if he could do it all over, that he would have joined the Air Force and said that I should look into it, so that’s why I chose it,” he said.
In his few years with the Air Force, Alvey is seeing that hard work and leading by example pays off. He has some simple yet impactful words of wisdom and motivation for his fellow junior Airmen.
“I try to lead by example, just like Tech. Sgt. Shaffer does for us,” said Alvey. “Lead from the front and show them things need to be done correctly and quickly. I just help them out the best that I can.”
He shuts the generator outside the plane off. It’s the end of the day. It’s still hot. He won Maintenance Professional of the Year today – and fixed a generator. This is just another day on the flight line.
| Date Taken: | 04.05.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 04.06.2021 15:59 |
| Story ID: | 393062 |
| Location: | DJ |
| Hometown: | ABILENE, TX, US |
| Hometown: | HURLEY, MS, US |
| Hometown: | KANSAS CITY, MO, US |
| Web Views: | 435 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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