National Guard Airmen augment Misawa maintenance

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Samuel Morse
  • 35th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan (AFNS) --  Thirty-one Air National Guard Airmen volunteered to leave the United States in late February to help members of the 35th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron here recover and maintain F-16 Fighting Falcons returning from Joint Base Balad, Iraq.

Members of the 14th Aircraft Maintenance Unit, who returned from Iraq March 1, were given much-needed time off to be with their families after their deployment, while Airmen of the 13th Aircraft Maintenance Unit were deployed to South Korea. 

Faced with manning shortages and aircraft that needed to be taken care of after returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom, Misawa Air Base officials decided to bring in the Air National Guard. The contingent of 31 personnel came from across America including Syracuse, N.Y.; Columbia, S.C.; and Fresno, Calif. The majority, however, came from the 122nd FW.

"Because the 13th Aircraft Maintenance Unit has deployed (to South Korea), we are short of maintenance personnel and would be struggling to take care of our returning aircraft," said Senior Master Sgt. Michael Radford, the 14th AMU lead production superintendent.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime shot," said Staff Sgt. Brad Millhouse, an Air National Guard F-16 crew chief from the 122nd Fighter Wing from Fort Wayne, Ind. "I was surprised there were still slots left."

"It's great because you get to meet up with people you haven't seen in a while," said Staff Sgt. William Thomas, one of the few active-duty crew chiefs present from the 14th AMU. Sergeant Thomas' working partner, Tech. Sgt. Nathan Bechdolt from the 122nd FW, went to technical training with him after Basic Military Training. They had not seen each other since then.

Many cited weather as the most challenging part of the assignment. A blizzard, dumping more than 10 inches of snow, greeted Sergeant Bechdolt on his very first day.

"We realized it snowed in Japan, but not like that," he said.

There were other challenges as well. The Air National Guard maintainers were trained on Block 30 airframes -- an older version of the F-16 from the 1980s.

"None are trained on the Block 50 aircraft, so I've been training them every day," said Sergeant Thomas, a native of Lebenon, Miss.

A total of 16 fighter jets needed to be washed, cleaned and brought up-to-date with scheduled maintenance. Sergeant Millhouse said playing his part in the war effort and supporting the jets gives him a sense of pride.

The guardsmen, who are scheduled to return to their home bases in late March, hit the ground running and really helped a lot, Sergeant Radford said.

"We would not have been able to accomplish half the maintenance we completed without their assistance," he said.

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