Making Every Mission

Four airmen deployed for a year to Forward Operating Base Lagman in Afghanistan are maintaining more than 30 Army vehicles, keeping them ready for every mission conducted by the Qalat Provincial Reconstruction Team, reports SSgt. Trevor Tiernan. The airmen are serving in-lieu-of soldiers, but they are serving in their specialties. TSgt. Dave Albanese and SSgt. Joel Bonnett are vehicle mechanics, while TSgt. James Nelson handles logistics and SSgt. Logan Pike works vehicle dispatch. The two mechanics have even made “house calls,” going outside the wire to fix vehicles that succumbed to the rough terrain and couldn’t be driven back to base. They had the vehicles on the road again within three hours. Army Sgt. Benjamin House with the Arizona National Guard calls the airmen mechanics “mission essential.”