Prides of the Pack: Tech. Sgt. Jeffrey Aaron, Tech. Sgt. Christopher Allen

  • Published
  • 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  

Tech. Sgt. Jeffrey Aaron
Unit: 8th Civil Engineer Squadron
Duties: Assistant NCO in charge, structures section
Hometown: Pittsburgh, Penn.
Hobbies: Golf, education
Favorite music: Rap
Follow-on: Ramstein Air Base, Germany
Last good movie you saw: Shawshank Redemption
Best thing you've done here: Getting married on Feb. 1

Tech. Sgt. Christopher Allen
Unit: 8th Civil Engineer Squadron
Duties: Assistant NCO in charge, water and fuel systems maintenance section
Hometown: Paulsbo, Wash.
Hobbies: Martial arts, swimming, family time
Favorite music: Everything except rap
Follow-on: Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.
Last good movie you saw: Sherlock Holmes
Best thing you've done here: Visiting friends in Kwangju


Reason for nomination:

"Tech. Sgt. Jeffrey Aaron and Tech. Sgt. Christopher Allen distinguished themselves during an emergency weekend project to complete repairs on a water boiler at Bldg. 1305. It was determined that the boiler was not getting clean fuel from the below-ground tank. After a thorough inspection of the entire system it was discovered that there were two blocks of wood stuck in the fill pipe of the tank, 8 feet below ground.

During the next six hours, numerous attempts using different techniques were made to remove the blocks of wood from the pipe with little to no success. Undeterred, Aaron and Allen used their combined experience to fabricate several retrieval tools, which required welding different heads onto a pipe snake in an effort to finally retrieve the blocks from the pipe. With the use of a pipe camera and the pipe snake, they maneuvered through two elbows and a bell reducer to finally secure the retrieval tool into the blocks of wood and remove them from the pipe.

Without their dedication to remove the obstructions from the fill pipe, the 6,000-gallon tank would only receiving 1,000 gallons of fuel, allowing the rest of the open space in the tank to condensate and contaminate the fuel that fed the boiler and two emergency generators. If this condition had been allowed to continue, the boiler and two generators would have been fouled and extensive repairs or replacement would have to be performed, costing an estimated $75,000 to $80,000 in materials and man-hours," Senior Master Sgt. Albert Robin, 8th Civil Engineer Squadron.