AFMC Command News

653rd CLSS lends expertise to help protect Columbian air force mission

  • Published
  • By Holly L. Birchfield
  • 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
As the Columbian air force continues to use the C-130B and C-130H aircraft to combat drug smuggling, Airmen from the 653rd Combat Logistics Support Squadron here were recently called in to make the mission bullet proof.

Tech. Sgt. Darryl Rios-Maldonado, a 653rd aircraft structural maintenance craftsman, and Tech. Sgt. Ricky Hill, a 653rd crew chief, went to Catam Air Base, Bogota, Columbia, to install armor kits on the aircraft Columbian troops use to assist South American companies in destroying coca crops used to produce cocaine.

"We basically lined the nose, landing gear, wheel well area and the rear troop door with ceramic armor, which is constructed of ceramic covered Kevlar," said Sergeant Rios-Maldonado. "It works like a flak vest for the aircraft and slows down the bullet, if the aircraft should ever get hit."

The two also taught Columbian troops the tricks of their trade.

"They had never installed (the armor kits) before, so we showed them how to install and maintain them," he said. "That way, if anything were to happen to the kits, they'd be able to fix them by themselves."

The job wasn't easy though.

"Neither of us really spoke Spanish," Sergeant Hill said. "We had a couple of civilians who are Americans that actually work in Columbia. They spoke Spanish and that helped us out a lot."

Other than riding to work in a bullet-proof vehicle, Sergeant Rios-Maldonado said the C-130 mission was pretty common.

"It went very well," he said. "The kits that were put together for those airplanes are put together a lot better than they were in the past, so they're a lot easier to install and take out. I feel confident that they will be able to do this job without us now."