With Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s recent guidance regarding the wear of face masks, the 62nd Airlift Wing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, needed a find a way to quickly produce masks for mission-essential personnel who are continuously working throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Airmen from the 62nd Operations Support Squadron’s aircrew flight equipment (AFE) section quickly stepped up and began producing cloth face masks beginning April 6. The masks will be distributed first to those who regularly come into contact with aircrew such as AFE and maintenance Airmen who are on aircraft before and after landing.

In order to help limit COVID-19’s spread and its impact on the force, the Secretary of Defense instituted travel restrictions for both international and domestic travel.

2020 AFIMSC Innovation Rodeo finalists presented their technology at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland

Airman 1st Class Kam Watt, 4th Airlift Squadron loadmaster, poses for a photo inside a C-17 Globemaster III before taking off from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Dec. 22, 2019. After a seven-day mission, Watt and the rest of the aircrew were headed back to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Mikayla Heineck)

Staff Sgt. Dan Antonio Deladingco, 627th Security Forces Squadron (SFS) combat arms instructor, demonstrates the prone supported position to students during a qualification course for the M-4 rifle at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., Jan. 23, 2020. Combat arms is one of three missions for the 627th SFS, which also includes flight line security and protecting aircraft in austere environments through the Phoenix Raven program. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Tryphena Mayhugh)

Col. Erin Staine-Pyne, 62nd Airlift Wing commander, speaks to members of the wing during a commander’s call Jan. 16, 2020 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. Staine-Pyne served previously at JBLM as vice wing commander and the 8th Airlift Squadron commander from June 2013 to February 2015. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Joshua Smoot)

Fliers of a P-51 Mustang Group of the 15th Air Force in Italy talk in the shadow of one off the Mustangs they fly, August 1944. Left to right, Lt. Dempsey W. Morgan Jr., Lt. Carroll S. Woods, Lt. Robert H. Nelson Jr., Capt. Andrew D. Turner, and Lt. Clarence P. Lester.

Maj. Gen. Sam Barrett, 18th Air Force commander, hands off the guidon to Col. Erin Staine-Pyne, 62nd Airlift Wing commander, on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., Jan 10, 2020. The passing of the guidon represents a formal transfer of authority and responsibility from an outgoing commander to an incoming one. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Mikayla Heineck)