Airman receives new skill set in equipment accountability

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Danielle Conde
  • 6th Air Mobility Wing public affairs
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  The material management career field gives Airmen the opportunity to be responsible for a variety of different equipment that can range from a specific section to base-wide.

"In supply we have a very broad spectrum of jobs that we can be placed in, and this one is very different for me," said Senior Airman Sarah Hausknecht, 6th Logistics Readiness Squadron equipment accountability journeyman.

For the majority of her enlistment, Hausknecht worked either in the warehouse or as a part of maintenance. In these sections she performed tasks such as regular inventory checks on shelved items and briefed the wing leadership on the status of mission capable parts. 

However, when she moved from Misawa Air Base, Japan, to MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, February 25, 2015, she was assigned to the Equipment Accountability Element.

Now, as one of four personnel manning the EAE, Hausknecht is responsible for ensuring that all the base level equipment, with the exception of vehicles, is accounted for and is being managed properly.

There is a total of 110 accounts base-wide that together contains about 9,500 assets, which are worth approximately $64 million.

Personally, Hausknecht manages 26 of these accounts. Each of the parts in an account are assigned an Expendability, Recoverability, and Reparability Category Code that contains detailed information that can be identified in the supply system called the Enterprise Solution-Supply.

"To come into an office of just four people makes the job very specialized," said Hausknecht. "You don't do anything similar to it anywhere else in supply."

In addition to managing the equipment, Hausknecht assists installation equipment custodians with processing equipment transactions. She confirms that each custodian has the correct rank and proper training to have access to an account, and she makes sure the account has the correct allotted amount of serviceable equipment.

"This job can be hard on Airmen because our customers are all E-5 to commanders," said Tech. Sgt. Antoine Brown, 6th LRS section supervisor. "It could be overwhelming to tell them what they have to do and enforce deadlines."

With that being said, Brown went on to point out that Hausknecht has been able to expand her job proficiency in just the short amount of time she has been at MacDill because she is constantly taking notes and asking questions.

"My shop has been great," said Hausknecht. "Equipment is proving to be a challenge since it's a whole new set of skills I have to learn, but I think I am going to enjoy it."