SELFRIDGE AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Mich. –
SELFRIDGE AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, MI -- If there is one thing Airman 1st Class Alyssa Oehus knows, it is her way around a sewing machine. In her civilian job, she runs a small commercial sewing business out of her home. In the Michigan Air National Guard, she performs industrial sewing on flight jackets and other items as an air crew flight equipment specialist.
"Attention to detail is everything," said Oehus, who has been a member of the 191st Operations Support Squadron's air crew flight equipment shop for about four years. "The smallest thread matters in how a life raft or other piece of equipment is going to perform. You never know which piece of equipment might be the one that saves someone's life, so every piece makes a difference."
Oehus said she enjoys her job serving at Selfridge Air National Guard Base as a traditional member of the Air National Guard, generally serving one weekend a month and a few weeks of active duty every year.
There's only one way to really learn this job and to do it well and that's by getting hands-on and actually doing it. That's my passion, be it in the Guard or in my civilian work," she said.
On a recent Selfridge drill weekend, Oehus and others in the flight equipment shop were taking inventory and putting together the survival kits that are stowed aboard the 127th Air Refueling Group's KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft. The aircraft can carry about 60 passengers and crew and the aircraft carries enough survival gear for each person. In the flight equipment shop, Airmen spread out each raft and life jacket for inspection, took inventory of the glow sticks emergency rations, beacons and other items that make up the survival kits and ensured everything was serviceable.
"Each component is a critical piece," said Staff Sgt. Dewon Lewis as he sorted through packages of emergency drinking water. "We have a job where we hope no one ever needs our services, but there are no do-overs if things aren't right."