An Original Rosie: Elinor Otto Keeps Moving, Even After Almost 50 Years in Plane Production

STORY BY RANDY ROUGHTON // PHOTOS BY STAFF SGT. ANDREW LEE

8 February 2016

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Elinor Otto was one of the original Rosie the Riveters, the thousands of women who took on jobs for men deployed overseas during World War II. She worked on airplanes for almost 50 years until she was laid off in 2014 at the age of 95 from the Boeing Company plant in Long Beach, California, where she shares a house with her grandson.
(U.S. Air Force Video by Jimmy D. Shea)

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“Whether rain or shine, she’s part of the assembly line. She’s making history, working for victory…”
Long before he learned the role his grandmother played in history, Elinor Otto was John Alexander Perry’s role model. Whenever he had a decision to make, he asked himself one question: “What would grandma do?”
Aside from being the inspiration for her son and grandson, there have been two constants in Otto’s life. She simply cannot sit still for long, and she loves working on airplanes.

Elinor Otto was one of the original Rosie the Riveters, the thousands of women who took on jobs for men who went overseas during World War II. She worked on airplanes for almost 50 years until she was laid off in 2014 at the age of 95 from the Boeing Company plant in Long Beach, California.

“If she had an outlet you could plug into her, you would never sleep again,” Perry said. “There’s nothing about her that’s normal. She just goes and goes and goes and doesn’t stop. She is truly the Energizer Bunny.”
Otto was one of the original the Riveters, the thousands of women who took on jobs for men deployed overseas during World War II. She worked on airplanes for almost 50 years until she was laid off in 2014 at the age of 95 from the Boeing Company plant in Long Beach, California, where she shares a house with her grandson.
“Everything with me is an adventure,” said Otto, who’s now 96 years old. “That’s what life is – one big adventure.”
Perry then pointed to a photograph of his grandmother as a young woman and smiled wistfully.
“See, she was beautiful,” he said. “People wanted grandma to be an actress.”

Elinor Otto was one of the original Rosie the Riveters who replaced men who went overseas during World War II. She worked for Ryan Aeronautical Corporation in San Diego for 14 years until she was laid off. Almost a year later, Otto moved to Long Beach to work for Douglas Aircraft Company, which merged with McDonnell Aircraft and later with Boeing. She was laid off again in 2014 at the age of 95 from Boeing shortly before completing a total of 50 years working on aircraft.

Manual labor
But Otto had no interest in an acting career because she had a destiny – an important one for not only her life, but also for the then-fledgling Air Force and nation.
“I had to work on airplanes,” she said. “They used to ask me, ‘Why do you want to do a man’s job?’ I said, ‘Because you get a lot of exercise, you’re on your feet and move around.’ That’s what I like. I just don’t like jobs where you just sit still all the time.”
Co-workers and visitors would marvel at the sight of Otto at work, moving her hands and stomping her feet along with the vibrations of the riveting gun. But not everyone initially accepted women in jobs usually reserved for men.
“Of course, the men resented hearing that women were going to be working with them, at first,” Otto said. “But after we proved ourselves and proved to them that we were able to keep the schedules up and get the jobs done right, they started respecting us, and we all cooperated together.
“Some of the guys would say, ‘You’re working too hard. You’re making us look bad.’ But I would say, ‘Well, go to work then!’”
Eventually, the men saw that the women worked as hard and as effectively as they did. In fact, the women were often selected to handle the rivet guns because their work was more precise, Otto said.

Elinor Otto holds her rivet gun that she used for the majority of her career to put pieces of military aircraft together. She worked on airplanes for almost 50 years until she was laid off in 2014 at the age of 95 from the Boeing Company plant in Long Beach, California.

“They told us, ‘You women handle the rivet gun. Don’t let the men do it,’” she said. “They wouldn’t let the men do that because we were more careful. With the sets we had to make, it was so easy to make a ding on the skin, and they would have a hard time fixing it.
“Things were smaller then – smaller parts and rivets. Now we need guns that are so heavy. But I could do that, too. I would say, ‘I’m not as frill as I look,’ because I’d been doing it for a long time. I had to tell some of them that I’d been doing this work since before you were born. You had to fight your way sometimes with the men.”
During the war, Otto made 65 cents an hour, which didn’t go far, since she paid $20 a week to board her son while she worked. To motivate themselves before heading to work, Otto and her female co-workers would sometimes sing along with the song, “Rosie the Riveter” by the Four Vagabonds on a .78 rpm phonograph. She still knows the words today: “Whether rain or shine, she’s part of the assembly line. She’s making history, working for victory…”
After the war, Otto worked as a car hop and other equally unsatisfying jobs before she returned to factory work in 1951. She worked for Ryan Aeronautical Corporation in San Diego for 14 years until she was laid off. Almost a year later, Otto moved to Long Beach to work for Douglas Aircraft Company, which merged with McDonnell Aircraft and later with Boeing.
By the end of 2014, when the Air Force ended its relationship with the Long Beach plant, Otto had worked on every Boeing C-17 Globemaster III they had. Throughout her half century working on planes, whether on the C-17, KC-135 Stratotanker, or the Douglas DC-8, McDonnell Douglas D-9 and D-10, Otto’s fast-paced style never changed, mostly because it was the way she worked since childhood. But she admits there was also another reason.
“When I would sit down, they were about ready to call the paramedics,” she said. “They thought that maybe something was wrong with me.”

Rosie pride
Interest in the Rosies peaked a couple of decades later, with the renewed popularity in the “We Can Do It” poster during the women’s rights movement in the 1970s and ‘80s.
“We didn’t know we were doing anything important,” Otto said. “We thought we were just working people, working together for a purpose. We had no idea that this was ever going to happen, that we’d get all of this attention about it. Otherwise, I think I would have taken more pictures.”

Over the years, Elinor Otto has collected many Rosie the Riveter memorabilia items and they’re displayed throughout her house. Many of today’s Rosie the Riveter images come from the iconic “We Can Do It” painting from J. Howard Miller in 1942.

At the age of 12, Otto’s grandson learned about her role during World War II only after he was given a history project on the Rosie the Riveters in junior high school. His father Ronald Arthur Perry told him to write about his grandma.
“Everyone at that point wanted to meet her and talk to her,” John Perry said. “I kind of got swept to the side and grandma was famous.”
Perry and his father introduced Otto to the world through the “Keep the Spirit of ‘45 Alive” group and the Weider History Group, and soon all of the major networks and newspapers were calling. Otto decided on NBC for her first major interview.
“After I was on The Today Show, I walked out in New York City, and here comes everybody. ‘Oh, there’s a Rosie!’ Everybody wanted a picture on their cellphones,” she said. “I think it’s cute, all this stuff they do.”
The awards and recognition also kept coming her way. In 2014, Otto received the Lillian K. Keil Award for Women’s Contributions to the Military from the American Veterans Center for her contributions as a Rosie the Riveter during the war.
“There really are a lot of Rosies left,” Otto said. “Most of them are still healthy, but they didn’t work until they were 95. They weren’t that crazy. In my day, if I were to see an old lady like me working in there, I would have said, ‘What is that old bag doing over there?’ I am so grateful that anybody even cares.”

Elinor Otto reads a memory book that was presented to her by Boeing, recognizing the teams that worked on the C-17 Globemaster III. During her long career, Otto worked on every C-17 Boeing had.

The forced retirement, especially so close to reaching the 50-year milestone of working on airplanes, hurt Otto deeply. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she watched the last C-17 tip its wing goodbye before it left the Long Beach plant for a four-hour flight to Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina.
“The layoff hurt her,” Perry said. “For a long time, she was not grandma. She moped around the house trying to fill her day because she was so used to getting up and going to work. I shed some tears on that, too.”
Since her retirement, it hasn’t been easy for Otto to stay busy but she does the best she can. Her friends and co-workers remain special to her, especially after so many attended the graveside service for her 71-year-old son who died in 2013. So many of her Boeing friends showed up that Otto thought they were coming for another funeral.
Once a month, Otto meets with her former Boeing co-workers at a Long Beach restaurant by the marina in Shoreline Village. Carol Hill, who was in charge of product distribution at the plant, looks up to Otto for her longevity and never-stop attitude.

Throughout her career, Elinor Otto worked on airplanes for almost 50 years until she laid off in 2014. By the end of 2014, when the Air Force ended its relationship with the Boeing Long Beach plant, Otto had worked on every Boeing C-17 Globemaster III they had.

“She’s my idol,” Hill said, “to have worked that long and still have all of her faculties. This woman is remarkable. She was this little person working those big riveting guns, just standing on her stepstool.”
Otto may not be holding her handy riveting gun as she closes in on her 100^th birthday, but she shows no signs of giving up on the motto that got her so far as a Rosie and as a person.
“I just believe that people have to keep moving,” she said. “People are staying healthy longer, and they get bored and want to get out and do something. You don’t want to sit around and do nothing. You can fall apart that way. So just keep moving. That’s the secret to life.”

- See more at: http://airman.dodlive.mil/2016/02/an-original-rosie/#sthash.JyAQZfGM.dpuf

C-17 Health Care: Non-destructive Inspection Shop Looks Into C-17’s Body to Determine Potential Problems

Airman 1st Class Khalil Edmonson, 437th Maintenance Squadron non-destructive inspection journeyman, responds to a requests to review a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft part on Feb. 18, 2015 at Joint Base Charleston, S.C. Edmonson and other NDI technicians work directly with maintenance inspectors when wear and tear is visible on the aircraft.

The Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) technician is the personal physician for the C-17 Globemaster III. Much like a regular doctor, the 437^th Maintenance Squadron’s NDI shop at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, looks over the C-17 to catch problems before the entire aircraft, as well as its crew, can be put into jeopardy. Instead of tumors and disease, NDI technicians look for cracks and other defects in each part of the airplane they inspect. JB Charleston celebrated 3 million flying hours for the C-17 fleet earlier this year. The milestone is the equivalent of one aircraft being airborne for 342 years. So the mileage on the C-17 makes aircraft part inspection especially crucial. “I am most proud of how many lives we have saved and mishaps we have been able to prevent by finding cracked, damaged and faulty parts,” said Staff Sgt. John M. Price, the NDI assistant NCO in charge. “Removing them from service eliminated any potential risks they could have caused if they continued to be used in flying operations.”

Non destructive inspection technicians assigned to the 437th Maintenance Squadron, close the door of a C-17 Globemaster III after completing an inspection request on Feb. 18, 2015 at Joint Base Charleston, S.C. The 437th MXS NDI technicians are responsible for detecting cracks in aircraft or vehicle parts for the entire fleet at Joint Base Charleston.

Many bases provide NDI support to the C-17, but JB Charleston is the only one used for testing. The shop’s five active-duty Airmen, two Air Force Reserve technicians and two civilian technicians inspect metal objects ranging from nuts and bolts to large hooks and sheets of metal. Parts vary from those weighing hundreds of pounds and designed to hold the C-17’s main landing gear to a 2-inch bolt that weighs only ounces. JB Charleston’s NDI was named the best laboratory in the Air Force in 2006 against almost 200 other labs. Its Airmen have also received numerous individual awards. Although NDI technicians feel a sense of accomplishment when they find a crack in an airplane part, the key is the inspection process, said Tech. Sgt. Ryan Michalec, the shop’s NCO in charge. “Doing the job is actually fairly simple. It’s knowing the science behind it,” he said. “It’s understanding how to interpret what you’re looking at, not only physically, with the parts, penetrant and magnetic particle testing, but also with the machines that are telling you what’s going on.” Once the NDI technicians find a crack, they refer the part to aircraft structural maintenance for repair. The part will then return to NDI for a post inspection after it’s repaired. While inspecting JB Charleston’s 50 C-17s, the shop uses six inspection methods: fluorescent penetrant, eddy current, magnetic particle, bond testing, ultrasonic and X-ray testing methods. Liquid penetrant testing is one of the oldest and simplest NDI methods, dating back to the 19^th century, where it was used on railroad parts with kerosene and an oil mixture, Michalec said. Today, a florescent penetrant is used to detect any surface-connected discontinuities, such as cracks from fatigue, quenching and grinding, as well as fractures, porosity, and flaws in joints. A penetrant is applied to the test part, rinsed with water, submerged in an emulsifying liquid, rinsed with water again, then followed by a developer. The developer helps to draw the penetrant out of the flaw where an invisible indication becomes visible. Inspection is performed under ultraviolet light.

Airman 1st Class Khalil Edmonson, 437th Maintenance Squadron non-destructive inspection journeyman, reviews lines to determine cracks on two sheets of metal during an electromagnetic inspection at Joint Base Charleston, S.C. The 437th MXS NDI shop inspects metal objects ranging from nuts and bolts, to large hooks and sheets of metal.

“The reason we use fluorescent light is because the visual acuity of someone with 20/20 vision is about one-3000^th of an inch, meaning that is what you can actually see,” Michalec said. “But we’re looking for stuff you can’t see. We’re looking for stuff that, if you’re looking at a part, you have no idea there’s a crack on there unless you specifically knew where and what to look for. “The good thing about this method is it’s sensitive, and we can find very tiny cracks with it, which is great because if you’re in the aircraft world, you know that little, tiny cracks can turn into really big cracks with the right amount of stress on that particular part.” Eddy currents are circular electrical currents induced in a conductive metal by reacting to an alternating magnetic field. The testing uses electromagnetic induction to detect flaws in conductive materials. It can detect particularly small cracks on or near the surface. “The technology on that particular inspection has increased a lot over the last 30 years,” Michalec said. “The capability has gone from basically a needle on a meter to a machine that actually reads conductivity like a tiny metal detector. “You’re going to get these little circular electrical currents flowing inside of that metal called eddy currents. Those circular electrical currents are going to create another magnetic field that’s pushing against the magnetic field coming out of the probe. Electricity and magnetism don’t like to go through air. When that secondary magnetic field hits that crack, it’s going to disappear, and the machine is made to read what extent the eddy currents dissipate, so we can estimate what kind of depth we have in the crack.”

Airman 1st Class Khalil Edmonson, 437th Maintenance Squadron non-destructive inspection journeyman, responds to a requests to review the right inboard main landing gear door hinge pin on a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft part on Feb. 18, 2015 at Joint Base Charleston, S.C. Edmonson and other NDI technicians work directly with maintenance inspectors when wear and tear is visible on the aircraft.

Because the C-17 is made mostly out of bonded structures, NDI uses ultrasonic testing quite often. It’s the same technology used to detect a fetus in the womb, but instead of a baby, the NDI technician is looking for a crack. “It’s a different technique, but the same theory applies,” Michalec said.  “We’re placing sound into a material, looking for a reflection from the back side of it, and if we see anything in between there, we can tell you there’s a crack and the depth of the crack.” The same theory also applies to bond testing, Michalec said. The idea is to put sound into the part being inspected and look for changes in the sound waves  on the equipment’s screen. One common method of bond testing is the tap test. The technician taps the surface of the test structure and evaluates the sound the knock produced. The tap test method has demonstrated the ability to detect cracks, corrosion, impact damage and disbanding of bonded structures. “It’s like finding a stud in the wall,” Michalec said.

Airman 1st Class Brett Gyurnek, 437th Maintenance Squadron non-destructive inspection journeyman, 437th Maintenance Squadron non-destructive inspection journeyman, wears a protective mask, apron and gloves while handling aircraft parts that have been sprayed with a dye to prevent any of the liquid from getting on his skin or in his eyes on Feb. 18, 2014 at Joint Base Charleston, S.C. The 437th MXS NDI shop inspects metal objects ranging from nuts and bolts, to large hooks and sheets of metal on aircraft and vehicles.

Radiography involves the photographic record produced by the passage of radiation, such as X-rays or gamma rays through an object onto film. When X-ray film is exposed to radiation, an invisible change called a latent image is produced on the film itself, once the film is developed. Along with the variety of testing methods, one of the advantages of the NDI career field is its versatility, Michalec said. He’s done inspections on virtually every Air Force airplane during his career, in addition to Marine Corps helicopters, the Navy’s EA-6B Prowler and oil analysis testing on the Army’s special operations helicopters while he was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. “I don’t think there’s but one or two military aircraft that I haven’t had my hands on in my 13-year career,” Michalec said. “I enjoy it, because this is one career field where we can go and work on anything. If it rolls, rotates or flies, we can work on it. That makes it a unique kind of career field because if you are a C-17 crew chief, you’re a C-17 crew chief. If you’re an F-16 (Fighting Falcon) crew chief, you’re an F-16 crew chief. You are going to stay with that platform. “But for us, we can go to different bases and work on different platforms. Whether they are helicopters, fighters, cargo, bombers or attack aircraft, NDI can do a job on them, and the equipment would also be the same. We use the same equipment across the Air Force, with the same standards.” Another aspect of the job that remains the same, from tech school through a decade or so in the career field, is the satisfaction that comes from finding a crack. When Michalec was a tech school instructor, he encouraged his students by telling them, “Just wait until you find your first crack.” They don’t always find defects in the C-17 parts they inspect, which is obviously a good thing for the Air Force and the Airmen who fly the aircraft. But there is an adrenaline rush when they do.

Airman 1st Class Khalil Edmonson, 437th Maintenance Squadron non-destructive inspection journeyman, documents his work order request from maintenance inspectors inside of a C-17 Globemaster III on Feb. 18, 2015 at Joint Base Charleston, S.C. Edmonson and other technicians are required to document all maintenance encounters to ensure each work order can be read by maintainers assigned to the aircraft.

- See more at: http://airman.dodlive.mil/2015/08/c-17-health-care/#sthash.3afNMaAW.dpuf

'Mr. P:' At 80, Supervisor Remains the Backbone of One of Service's Largest C-17 Fabrication Shops

‘MR. P’

At 80, supervisor remains the backbone of one of service’s largest C-17 fabrication shops

STORY BY RANDY ROUGHTON// STAFF SGT. VERNON YOUNG JR.

22 June 2015

Mr. Bobby Pierce, 437th Aircrew Flight Equipment Squadron, Joint-Base Charleston, S.C., repairman, sews a head rest cover for the interior of a C-17 Globemaster III, Feb. 28, 2015. Pierce completes work orders from C-17 maintainers to maintain aircraft safety standards. The fabrication shop saves the Air Force about $1.25 million annually on sewing refurbished and locally manufactured items.

When Bobby Pierce was learning to sew during his Air Force technical training in 1955, he never imagined he would still be teaching the skill to Airmen in his fabrication shop six decades later.
Pierce, or “Mr. P,” as he’s known in the 437th Aircrew Flight Equipment Fabrication Shop at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, quickly made an impression on Tech. Sgt. Rico Kones when he arrived in 2001. Almost immediately, Mr. P became the person Kones looked to for guidance and information. Kones credits the veteran with teaching him how to sew, which Pierce continues to do with the shop’s Airmen.

Mr. Bobby Pierce, 437th Aircrew Flight Equipment Squadron, Joint-Base Charleston, S.C., repairman, sips his morning coffee as he begins his duty day, Feb. 28, 2015. Pierce leads a fabrication shop of 10 civilians and several military members that provide a wide-range of fabrication services to the aircrews assigned to JB-Charleston.

“Mr. P is an inspiration to us all,” said Kones, an aircrew flight equipment special projects coordinator. “He is in his 80s, and he is still working here in the shop lifting heavy rolls of fabric and working out daily on his lunch break. Mr. P greets us all here daily with a smile and asks us, ‘How are you doing today?’ Although this is one of the busiest shops in (Air Mobility Command), Mr. P is always personable with the civilian members and GIs. He treats us all like family.”
Pierce is the senior of 10 civilian employees in the shop who represent more than 300 years of experience. It is one of the Air Force’s few fabrication shops that still produce all fabric-related items for aircraft. Every two years, the material in each of the base’s 50 C-17 Globemaster IIIs must be refurbished or replaced.

Mr. Bobby Pierce, 437th Aircrew Flight Equipment Squadron, Joint-Base Charleston, S.C., repairman, escorts Staff Sgt. Matthew Mason, 437th Logistics Readiness Squadron non-commissioned officer in charge of documented cargo, Feb. 28, 2015. Pierce and 437th fabrication flight personnel completed a job for Mason’s crew to load onto a C-17 Globemaster III. The 437th AFE creates aircraft parts by request and the 437th LRS Airmen install the parts with the approval of the maintenance squadrons.

Employees use sheepskin to make custom cockpit seat covers Pierce calls “butt covers,” and also refurbish armrest and headrest covers, bunk cushions, heavy bunk curtains made of fire-resistant fabric and heavy-duty straps. The straps must be done on Big Bertha, the only one of the shop’s five sewing machines that can handle heavier materials. They even embroider the active-duty and reserve wing logos, along with the JB Charleston logo, into certain items so all C-17 passengers will know where the work was done.
Some shop specialists compare the work to NASCAR mechanics. In both cases, people just take the end products for granted without considering the work that went into them, Pierce said.
“If a NASCAR driver does really well, people think he was great, but they don’t know what went into that car, the work that was done on that car to put him into position to win,” he said. “But everything had to be perfect in that car for him to win. But how was it perfect? People see things like seat covers and think they magically appeared. They don’t think about the work that went into them. They just see them and don’t know the story behind them.”
Each morning, Pierce arrives at the shop early at 5:30 and makes coffee. He checks his emails and reads the newspaper over his breakfast before his shift begins an hour later. It’s a routine that has served him well since his first day on the job in 1986.

Mr. Bobby Pierce, 437th Aircrew Flight Equipment Squadron, Joint-Base Charleston, S.C., repairman, guides C-17 crew chiefs’ Airman 1st Class John Williams, Senior Airmen Rahul Bhutani and Airman 1st Class Christian Moskovitz, Feb. 28, 2015. Pierce and 437th fabrication flight personnel completed a job for the Airmen to load onto a C-17 Globemaster III. The 437th AFE creates aircraft parts by request and the 437th LRS Airmen install the parts with the approval of the maintenance squadrons.

During those three decades, Pierce has witnessed the reorganization in 2007 that combined survival and equipment with aircrew life support. He’s also seen his share of other changes, such as when an Air Mobility Command commander’s ride on a C-17 led to a switch to a more comfortable bunk rest cover.
“In the early days of the C-17, Gen. (Walter) Kross rode on the aircraft and was displeased with the bunk rest cover,” Pierce said. “So it was changed to one that was much more comfortable for crew members to rest on.”

Mr. Bobby Pierce, 437th Aircrew Flight Equipment Squadron, Joint-Base Charleston, S.C., repairman, sews a head rest cover for the interior of a C-17 Globemaster III, Feb. 28, 2015. Pierce completes work orders from C-17 maintainers to maintain aircraft safety standards. The fabrication shop saves the Air Force about $1.25 million annually on sewing refurbished and locally manufactured items.

Before basic training in 1955, Pierce was selected as a parachute rigger. He learned to sew, along with parachute preparedness and inspection skills, during 16 weeks of technical training at Chanute Air Force Base, Illinois.
His first assignment was at the former Hunter Air Force Base, Georgia, a Strategic Air Command installation; followed by Castle Air Force Base, California; Incirlik Air Base, Turkey and Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. He retired as a master sergeant in 1975 and chose to continue in the aircrew flight equipment field, first at Shaw, before he moved to his current shop 11 years later.
The one constant throughout his military and civilian careers has been his love of sewing.
“The one thing about sewing is it’s relatively a clean job,” Pierce said. “You don’t have mud and grease on your clothes normally. Also, it’s an inside job. You have air conditioning in the summer, and in the wintertime, you don’t have to be out in the elements. If you enjoy sewing, it’s kind of an art, a task in which you sew a piece of material to make it into an end item, like a cushion cover, or even a dress or pair of pants. You can do a lot of things with sewing.”

Mr. Bobby Pierce, 437th Aircrew Flight Equipment Squadron, Joint-Base Charleston, S.C., repairman, guides C-17 crew chiefs’ Airman 1st Class John Williams, Senior Airmen Rahul Bhutani and Airman 1st Class Christian Moskovitz, Feb. 28, 2015. Pierce and 437th fabrication flight personnel completed a job for the Airmen to load onto a C-17 Globemaster III. The 437th AFE creates aircraft parts by request and the 437th LRS Airmen install the parts with the approval of the maintenance squadrons.

The one thing the fabrication shop does best with sewing is save the Air Force money, about $1.25 million annually, on refurbished and locally manufactured items, said Scott Lewis, an aircrew flight equipment foreman. One of the items where a big chunk of the savings is made is in heads-up display covers. The covers cost about $2,500, but the shop makes them for $150-175 each. This savings adds up to about $40,000 on each C-17, or up to about $1 million a year.
Even when the workload eases up somewhat, there is still plenty to do. This is when they get ready for the next aircraft due for refurbishing.
“We have to keep a supply of items on hand so we can change them right away and can get it back ASAP,” Pierce said. “So when things are a little slack, we make extra seat covers, bed rest covers, and we sew extra straps to make sure we have some spare sets ahead to take care of them whenever they come in. All we have to do then is strip them off and put our new covers on. We always have something to do ahead of time. To have a few extra sets really helps us out in the long run.”

Mr. Bobby Pierce, 437th Aircrew Flight Equipment Squadron, Joint-Base Charleston, S.C., repairman, performs pull-ups during his lunch workout routine, Feb. 28, 2015. At 80 years old with nearly 60 years of federal and military service, his consistent workout routine has kept him abreast with the developing times and standards.

At 80 years and with almost 60 years of combined federal and military service, Pierce has no plans to retire. That suits the others in the shop just fine. They’ve grown accustomed to seeing his smiling face and carrying large pieces of fabric as if they were a few pieces of notebook paper.
“I’ve worked around a lot of older people in my career,” Kones said. “They talk about when they retire, they will go home with nothing to do. They need a mission to accomplish to keep them going. He has one.
“He’s the oldest in the shop, but we look at him as our Hercules because you will see him carrying around 25-pound fabric on one shoulder. Mr. P is the backbone of our section. He’s back there day in and day out, making sure our aircraft are looking good.”
But perhaps another lasting legacy Pierce will eventually leave the shop will be his role in inspiring another generation of mentors who are willing to go the extra mile for their own Airmen. Kones considers himself in that category.

Mr. Bobby Pierce, 437th Aircrew Flight Equipment Squadron, Joint-Base Charleston, S.C., repairman, displays his Air Force basic training portrait and squadron photo above his desk, Feb. 28, 2015. After retiring as a Master Sergeant in 1975, his dedication to the military continued and his love for sewing grew. As the leader of a long-standing fabrication shop, he remains the backbone of one of the premiere jobs in the Air Force.

“One of the biggest lessons that Mr. P has showed me about the shop and my career is that I am a leader, and it is my duty to ensure that the mission is getting accomplished and that my people are taken care of,” Kones said. “He showed me that if you take care of your people, they will take care of you. If you are there just working your people with no gratification, they will work because they have to for the paycheck. But if you show them that they matter, and that they are doing a good job, they will go that extra mile because of you.”

- See more at: http://airman.dodlive.mil/2015/06/mr-p/#sthash.2xJVDgMV.dpuf