Saving money the AFREP way

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Sharida Jackson
  • Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  A B-52H Stratofortress , a television, and a computer are all made of various components. When the components cannot function together properly, what happens to them? Are they thrown away? No. That's where the Airmen of the Air Force Repair Enhancement Program come in.

They've been called anything from dumpster-divers to scavengers. However, if something is broken, chances are the Airmen at the 5th Maintenance Group's AFREP office can figure out what's wrong and fix it.

In fiscal year 2009, AFREP Airmen directly saved the base $99,000, while only spending $12,600 to repair various items.

AFREP's main objective is to optimize Air Force resources by increasing the wing- and base-level repair capability of aerospace parts and equipment. The program encourages innovation, ingenuity and resourcefulness by allowing organizations to identify items for base-level or contract repair.

AFREP saves Air Force resources and American tax dollars by repairing items that are no longer available, no longer made, or to be thrown away.

"We save the Air Force money by keeping things from going to the junk pile," said Master Sgt. Jeremy Grotte, AFREP superintendant.

There are two categories repairs fall into: mission capable fills and mission capable avoids, also known as MICAP fills and MICAP avoids.

"If a person doesn't have to buy a part, it's saving the Air Force money," Sergeant Grotte said.

Training for AFREP is regarded as some of the most intense and comprehensive Air Force training available. Airmen attend a six-week Micro-Miniature Circuit Card repair course at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. They learn wire repair, advanced soldering repair, as well as circuit card repair and electronic re-work.

"The hardest part about this job is getting something you have never seen before, something that you are unfamiliar with," said Sergeant Grotte.

No matter how big or small the job, the Airmen at the AFREP office are committed to fixing what is broken and saving the Air Force money wherever they can.

"The best part of my job is learning something new every day," said Staff Sgt. Sergio Aguilar, AFREP technician.

To contact the AFREP office, call 723-1030.