Coronavirus In Minnesota: National Guard's 133rd Airlift Wing Making Hundreds Of Face Masks
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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A different kind of sound is coming from the air crew flight equipment shop of the Minnesota National Guard's 133rd Airlift Wing.
Members of the 133rd OSS team are sewing masks to hand out to airmen base wide, an additional duty that Chief Master Sgt. Mark Legvold says was passed down to them by the United States Department of Defense.
"The shop here, first task is make sure that we protect ourselves, so masking up is a part of the way that we're achieving our mission," Legvold said. "We are still wrenching and fixing on aircraft, so that we're still maintaining our mission readiness, but maintaining the masks and building the masks for our team out here was a part of that."
READ MORE: CDC Recommends Everyone Wear Fabric Masks In Public, Learn How To Make Your Own
This group is responsible for providing airlift support for the broader Department of Defense and the state of Minnesota. They are now focused on another way to save and preserve life.
For air crew flight equipment technician Sabrina Phipps, she is taking what she learned in training and putting it to good use.
"We learned how to sew in our technical training, and then when we come back we do on-the-job training as well with fabrication because we go out to the aircraft and get insulation pieces, and we fix them or remake them from scratch, or anything else that needs maintaining, so we use those skill sets to make the masks," Phipps said.
She says not only is her team helping others be safe during these uncertain times, it's also bringing them closer.
READ MORE: How Should You Cover Your Face With A Mask?
"A cool comradery thing, too, just to have our entire shop here working," Phipps said.
So far, more than 800 masks have been made. More than 1,000 people make up the 133rd Airlift Wing, and with a little more effort, all will be covered with a masks so they can continue their life-saving missions.
Members of the 133rd OSS team have become so good at balancing their new mission with the old, they may be asked to make additional masks for other DOD employees.
