{"id":38456,"date":"2014-10-28T22:17:23","date_gmt":"2014-10-28T22:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2014\/10\/28\/veterans-put-experience-to-use-at-air-force-s-only-fabrication-shop\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:11:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:11:57","slug":"veterans-put-experience-to-use-at-air-force-s-only-fabrication-shop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2014\/10\/28\/veterans-put-experience-to-use-at-air-force-s-only-fabrication-shop\/","title":{"rendered":"Veterans put experience to use at Air Force’s only fabrication shop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. \u2013 <\/span>The Air Force taught Bobby Pierce how to sew in 1955. As a parachute rigger, he needed to know not only how to properly pack parachutes but also to mend and maintain them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly six decades later, Pierce continues to put those sewing skills to work in the service of his country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The retired master sergeant is one of 10 civilians \u2014 many former military like Pierce \u2014 who cut, bind and sew all fabric-related items found on Charleston’s more than 50 C-17 Globemasters. There are cockpit seat covers created from genuine sheep skins and heavy curtains made from fire-resistant fabric. There are headrest covers and bunk cushions, netting and straps sturdy enough to support the weight of a Humvee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One mid-morning in October, several sewers stitched together insulation for the cargo plane’s maze of pipework. Fabric worker Isreal Middleton finished up a set of seat covers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work happens inside the 437th Aircrew Flight Equipment fabrication shop, the only one of its kind in the Air Force. Pierce is at the center of it, shop supervisor and mainstay who at 80 has no plans to retire anytime soon. He has spent 30 years in the shop, a decade longer than he spent on active duty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pierce, who is known across base as Mr. P, is pragmatic about his service: “I’ve been around so long. The job has to be done.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, he supposes, “it’s too much in the blood.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pierce and his team can manufacture the items for a fraction of what they would cost to buy. Take, for instance, a single headrest cover, which is made here for about $200. The Air Force would pay $2,000 anywhere else, Pierce said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The savings add up to about $40,000 per aircraft, or more than $1 million a year, according to the service. The products made here also come with a little something extra \u2014 personalization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda Lewis and Dave Burgsteiner do a bulk of the embroidery work, stitching South Carolina’s iconic palmetto tree and the base’s name and air wing into the handiwork so everybody knows where the plane hails from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You don’t see much of that anymore,” Pierce said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burgsteiner, like Pierce, is a former parachute rigger who came to work as a civilian after four years of active duty. Lewis, the self-described “granny” of the group, worked at Charleston Naval Base from 1983 until it closed in 1996, doing much the same work she does here. Her mother taught her how to sew as a child, and by high school Lewis was making her own clothes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Seeing the finished product \u2014 there is satisfaction in that,” Lewis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big spools of embroidery thread in a rainbow of colors hang on a wall nearby; across the room stands a rack filled with bolts of Boeing-approved fabrics like Herculite and leather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shop also does work for foreign military sales, manufacturing items for Canada, the United Arab Emirates, India, Kuwait and Australia, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Charleston-based C-17 needs to be re-outfitted every two years or so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They go out looking nice. Over time, they get faded and worn,” Pierce said. Sometimes, pieces disappear \u2014 a curtain or a bunk cushion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fabric shop employees work ahead. Whenever a request comes in, they fill it immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elton Kelly, the back shop production controller, takes work orders for a new set of curtains, a replacement cushion, a fresh set of seat and headrest covers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were 575 requests in the past 12 months, he said. “My goal is to make it one stop. If a senior airman orders a part, I do the running around.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelly compares the work to behind-the-scenes NASCAR mechanics. “The driver and the crew are out in the limelight. But if the shop in the back didn’t do it right, they are not going to win the race.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retired from Charleston as a chief master sergeant in 2004 after 20 years as an aircraft maintainer, he didn’t want to live anywhere else. When he saw the controller job advertised two years later, he applied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“To me, the Air Force is the best company to work for. The Air Force will fly a sick child from Japan to California for treatment. What other company does that?” Kelly said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He and the other civilians provide a sense of continuity amid the constant rotation of active-duty airmen, Kelly said. But for him and Pierce and the others, there’s also what the job gives in return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I still get to make a difference,” Kelly said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I think it’s good for me. It keeps me busy, keeps me occupied,” Pierce said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a moment, the sewing machines were silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s our contribution to the national security effort,” said foreman Scott Lewis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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