BRAC Funding Brings New Building to the 917th Wing

  • Published
  • By Capt. Newman Robertson
  • 917th Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AFB, La. --  When the 47th Fighter Squadron acquired eight new A-10s and additional manpower as a result of the Air Force's reorganization and the subsequent closing of the 926th Fighter Wing at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans, Louisiana, more space was needed to accommodate the extra equipment and personnel. 

"Because of the additional aircrew we picked up, we were authorized an additional 7,000 square feet of space," said Master Sgt. Carl Whitaker, NCOIC, Aircrew Flight Equipment, "Over 5,000 of it went to aircrew flight equipment and the rest went to the men's and women's locker rooms, as well as an electrical room for the Civil Engineers." 

"Working out of the trailers has been ok, but the new facility is going to be awesome" he added. The new facility was designed with the anticipation of the 47th Fighter Squadron going combat coded in 2010, and will include more storage areas and larger classrooms to accommodate the various types of training the pilots must do. 

"We designed a storage area in the back of the building with roll up doors that will allow us to store our cadillac bins, a specific type of storage bin for additional assets for deployments, space savers, and chemical warfare equipment," said Sergeant Whitaker.  "We also have a night vision goggle room for the pilots to adjust their night vision goggles," said Tech. Sgt. Andre Menard, Technician, Aircrew Flight Equipment. 

The 717th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron also gained an addition to its training facility as well. "The new building has a huge break room, a training room with computers set up solely for training, a conference room, and offices for the maintenance officer, superintendant, and production supervisors," said Senior Master Sgt. Hollis Reeves, Flight Chief, 717th AMXS. "The rear of the building is curved because the A-10's needed wing tip clearance to get into the hangar," he added. 

Both buildings, which were funded through BRAC money received in 2005, will provide the much needed space to allow members of the 47th FS and the 717th AMXS to train more efficiently and effectively.