Journal Entries Senior Exit Project
Nov. 27, 2018- Davis-Monthan Air Force Base 7:00 A.M.-5:00 P.M.
Day One: Today I met with my mentor Tyler Roberts at the front of the base. He then took me inside the base and was explaining what the different buildings were and what they were used for. I had asked questions regarding as to what the rules and regulations were to where he worked. He explained to me that he worked at the A-10 AGE workshop. He then said that he would first take me to the C-130 shop since they had a newer building along with newer tools and equipment. We arrived at a big building that was surrounded by a tall fence that required a key code in order to get in. Once we were in, we went straight to the big building. We went inside and there were tool cabinets spread throughout the building. There were two big generators in the building along with a crane that was attached to the ceiling of the building. I followed my mentor to the head of the C-130 AGE unit. He introduced me to the head manager of the unit and I was then placed under the supervision of two Airmen Mechanics. One of them gave me a whole tour around the base for about and hour and a half. Once we got back to the C-130 AGE shop, I helped out with a hydrogen generator. It took a couple of hours to work on and when we were finished, it was already time to leave.
9 Hours (Lunch was 1 hour)
Nov. 28, 2018- Davis-Monthan Air Force Base 7:00 A.M.-5:00 P.M.
Day Two: Today I went straight to the C-130 AGE shop. My mentor had informed me that we would be working on a large Diesel Generator straight out of Afghanistan. Once I arrived to the shop, I had waited for about ten minutes so that the other two Airmen Mechanics I was assigned to could schedule what they needed to prioritize. Once they were finished we had brought in the large Diesel Generator and started to inspect it. It was very dusty and dirty. We then brought in another generator so that we could replace the engine from it. In total we had to work on two generators. We had worked on the one that needed a replacement generator first. After inspecting it we took the large cover off of the generator. Once it was off we needed to identify where the generator was and plan out how we were going to take it out from under the other equipment. The generator was under a metal frame that had a cylindrical metal container attached to it. After we had taken everything apart, we finally took out the generator with the crane and moved it to a secure area. We then got the new generator and put it into place where the old one was and reassembled everything that was necessary for it to function.
9 Hours (Lunch was 1 hour)
Nov. 29, 2018- Davis-Monthan Air Force Base 7:00 A.M.-5.00 P.M.
Day Three: Today was very slow. Since we had finished the generator I was being moved around to help out wherever I could. In the morning I was sent to the tool shop they had and helped organize and count the different tools and materials they had. After being there for about 2 hours I was then sent outside to help out an Airmen with a Hydrogen Generator. The Hydrogen Generator is used to cool down the plane so when it is idling, it does not overheat. One of the pressure gauges was too high so we had to figure out what was causing this problem. It turns out we had to rewire one of the gauge wires and retest the gauges by turning on the generator and making sure the PSI did not exceed 4000. Once we were done here my mentor Roberts came to pick me up and take me to the Weld shop. I was shown the variations of welding tools they had and the different types of threading machines they had. They also had ovens and furnaces so that they could melt down metal and shape it. Another machine they had was a water jet cutter that could produce 60,000 PSI in order to cut thick metals in a short amount of time. After showing me the last machine, being a 3D printer in which they never used, we had left because it was the end of the day by then.
9 Hours (Lunch was 1 Hour)
