Strategic maintenance gives Airmen diverse experience

  • Published
  • By Maj. Ann Peru Knabe
  • 379th Expeditionary Airlift Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  Maintainers spend thousands of hours keeping transport aircraft flying during the course of a rotation to this desert base.

So when Airmen from the 8th Expeditionary Air Mobility Squadron maintenance flight show up for work, they know they will be busy.

The flight’s mission is to provide strategic maintenance on intertheater and intratheater C-17 Globemaster III and C-5 Galaxy aircraft, and transient maintenance on aircraft like the KC-135 Stratotanker and KC-10 Extender.

“We mostly deal with launching and recovering aircraft and removing and replacing parts,” said Maj. Edward Sekerak, maintenance officer in charge . “But our mission has increased to include some back shop maintenance capabilities, like sheet metal and fuel cell repair, which allow us to be more of a normal en route unit as opposed to a gas-n-go, quick-turn operation.”

This capability helps the mission tremendously, he said.

“If you can’t fix an aircraft here, you need to send it out of the theater, and subsequently we lose warfighting capabilities,” the major said.

Major Sekerak said the strong partnership with the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing and 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Group maximizes the squadron’s capabilities. Without the help of the two units, the maintainers could not make the mission happen.

He said with troops augmenting his back shop, the maintainers were able to do a field repair on a C-17 thrust reverser. That allowed the aircraft to return to its home in the United States for permanent repairs.

The unit’s diverse tasks and combined talents offer deployed Airmen unique opportunities for growth.

“I’ve learned a tremendous amount in the short time I’ve been here,” said Staff Sgt. Troy Bencke, an aircraft hydraulics specialist from McChord Air Force Base, Wash. “We’re integrated with Charleston [AFB, S.C.] Airmen and maintainers who specialize in different areas. For example, you might have a hydraulics guy working right next to an engine specialist.”

Sergeant Bencke, who is serving his first deployment in the desert, said coalition partners also add to the integrated mix, resulting in a rich learning experience.

“Even the Brits are involved,” he said, referring to Airmen from the Royal Air Force who occasionally fly their new C-17s from England into the region.

Like in most deployed locations, Airmen here often do different jobs than they do at their home stations.  Senior Master Sgt. Robert Stone, a reservist deployed from McChord’s 446th Maintenance Squadron, is a sheet metal technician back home. Here he works as a strategic maintenance production supervisor.

“Desert duty is a little different,” Sergeant Stone said. “Our folks perform maintenance with limited resources compared to back home. A lot of times we’re simply waiting for the parts and equipment. But everyone here has a professional ‘can-do’ attitude.”

Like Sergeant Bencke, Sergeant Stone said his desert deployment gives him additional insight on how other bases do things.

“Together we gather each other’s ideas, benchmark and increase our corporate intelligence as a maintenance team,” he said.

He said working together and benchmarking are keys to meeting the demands of an intense maintenance work load.

Strategic maintainers work around the clock to cover C-17 operations. Most of the Airmen are from McGuire AFB, N.J., McChord and Charleston. A few C-5 maintainers and supply troops deployed from Travis AFB, Calf., and Dover AFB, Del. Together, they work together to meet the needs of a dynamic, ever-changing mission.

“We have to be very flexible because of the fluid operations and needs of many customers,” said Major Sekerak, deployed from the 22nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at McConnell AFB, Kan. “Our most important customers are the soldiers and warfighters on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Indirectly, we serve them by taking them to the fight, bringing them back home and supporting them,” the major said. “We bring these troops supplies, equipment, blood and ammunition. Strategic maintenance is definitely a part of the big picture mission.”