379th AMU fighter maintenance family affair

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Mark Munsey
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  Like many father and son teams, Senior Master Sgt. Joe Franco and Staff Sgt. Joe Franco plan on spending Father’s Day getting out the toolbox and tinkering around with a vehicle.

Only the wrenches will not be spread out under a carport or at a base auto hobby shop. Not this year.

The elder Franco, of the 379th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, will ensure squadron mate and son has all the tools and help he needs to get the base F-16 Fighting Falcons mission-ready and back in the air from this forward-deployed location

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“These are definitely interesting life experiences I get to share with my son,” the senior Franco said.

Interesting, but not unique, said the son. Deploying together for the fourth time has helped to strengthen their bond as family and as fighters in the war on terrorism, he said.

“We were together twice during Operation Northern Watch in 1998 and 2000, and we also participated in Operation Southern Watch,” the son said. “I was with my father during that deployment in September 2001.”

The pair, from the Oklahoma Air National Guard’s 138th Fighter Wing, has the frequent deployments to thank for ensuring time is spent in each others company.

“We live in different parts of Oklahoma and don’t get to visit each other that often,” the staff sergeant said. “Except, of course, for when we’re grabbing our gear and heading out.”

For the father, the continuous deployments have afforded him a chance to see the maturation of his son’s commitment.

“I’m pretty proud to see Joe develop and share my ideals of patriotism,” he said.

With his wife, Karen, waiting patiently at home, patriotic gives way to patriarchic.

“Yeah, I’ve got to keep an eye on him or she’d get mad,” said the dad who is also mayor of Dewey, Okla.

But his son is not the only family member familiar with the base. Staff Sgt. Tommy Still, of the 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron, is the son of the senior Franco’s sister, Angela.

Sergeant Still is an ammunitions Airman who loads up the very F-16s his cousin Joe works on.

They are a biological family committed to ensuring every member of the Air Force family is prepared to execute the mission, including the F-16 pilots, said the senior master sergeant.

“Those guys rely on us to provide the tools they need to provide the folks up north the coverage they need,” he said.

And that tool comes thanks to the ones in his son’s toolbox, making his father’s day.