The primary mission of pararescuemen is to provide rescue, recovery, medical treatment, and evacuation in any environment, day or night. They do whatever it takes to save a person’s life, which is why it’s important that their parachute gear be as safe and secure as possible.
At an Air Force Pararescue Training Facility, military parachutes and life rafts in a myriad of sizes were stored on wide-span shelving. It was difficult to move such heavy equipment on the shelving, and there was a concern about sliding the chutes and rafts as they easily caught on catch points. For security purposes, the chutes lived behind a large cage, which was cumbersome to work around.
“The facility had a very strong specification for the parachute racks they needed,” says Jane Glass, Director of Government Sales at Spacesaver. “The racks had to be infinitely adjustable horizontally as well as adjustable every six inches vertically. They had a variety of gear sizes to store, and they needed to store them securely.” 500 miles away at another Air Force Base, wide-span shelving was also creating a storage challenge for an AFE Equipment Inspection Unit. This unit is in charge of all the inspection and equipment maintenance and preparation for all the aircrew flight equipment for C-130 aircraft. The wire decking that the parachutes, life rafts, CO2 tanks, and other accessories were placed on had exposed sharp edges, resulting in damaged equipment. And, in addition to simply not being able to store all of the items in one central location, there were specific requirements the storage needed to meet—and the unit wasn’t meeting those requirements.
