Airmen guard diverse flying mission

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Michael Dorsey
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  With fighter, tanker, cargo, transport, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft at the largest wing in the area, the flightline at a forward-deployed location is nothing short of active.

Such diversity of aircraft and missions requires a level of uniformity that keeps maintenance operations safe -- the 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Operations Squadron.

As the smallest unit in the 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Group, 379th EMOS Airmen are the eyes and ears of the group commander and are responsible for ensuring maintenance operations follow standards that keep aircraft flying.

“All of our functions are oversight -- monitoring the day-to-day operations of aircraft maintenance,” said Chief Master Sgt. Rian Cronin, the squadron’s superintendent. “We ensure quality maintenance by assuring flight and personnel safety and guaranteeing long-term health of our aircraft and equipment.”

From getting parts, to ordering and enforcing technical orders, to ensuring scheduled maintenance of aircraft is not overdue, the squadron’s Airmen keep the flying mission going around the clock.

The National Football League has employees known as the “fashion police” -- 32 inspectors looking for players not adhering to the league’s uniform policy. The 379th EMXG has something similar in the 379th EMOS -- bringing order and consistency to maintenance operation procedures regardless of the aircraft.

“Standardization and uniformity make it easy to transition from base to base. We shouldn’t do things much different here, if any at all, than at home station,” said Chief Cronin, who is deployed from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.

The squadron brings uniformity to the maintenance field through its core sections: depot engineer; base engine manager; maintenance and supply liaison; plans, scheduling and documentation; data systems analysis; maintenance operations center and 379th EMXG quality assurance.

Maintenance supply liaison Airmen are actually part of the 379th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron, but they work at the maintenance operations squadron monitoring the overall maintenance and supply interface and resolving supply support problems. They act as the liaison between maintenance units and regional supply squadrons. The role they play in getting parts and equipment needed for flightline maintainers is critical to the mission.

“(They are) our lifeblood,” Col. Rob Burnett, the group commander.

Depot liaison engineers work with maintainers to get the right parts from the right resources and monitor maintenance operations for negative trends or problems needing technical assistance.

The base engine manager supports the daily flying of all aircraft by monitoring engine and propeller health of the wing’s fleet.

Plans and scheduling Airmen oversee aircraft maintenance unit scheduling sections. The ability to plan for scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, while meeting the flying schedule, is no easy task, said Tech. Sgt. James Tuggle, noncommissioned officer in charge of wing scheduling. He said his job is all about knowing every aircraft within a squadron, its configuration and upcoming maintenance requirements.

“It’s a juggling act requiring knowledge, patience, foresight and extreme flexibility,” said Sergeant Tuggle, who is deployed from Whiteman AFB, Mo.

Maintenance operations Airmen monitor, coordinate and track every facet of the wing’s sortie production. As the primary communications conduit within the maintenance group, it is one of the largest of the squadron’s sections. They collect information for reporting status of flights, change of aircraft flying schedules and other aircraft safety issues.

“I think because of the tracking and the availability of us doing the legwork on a lot of issues for the flightline, we play a large part in making sure things run smoothly,” said Tech. Sgt. Wayde Guidry, a maintenance operations center controller. “We are the information center for all the agencies on and off the flightline when it comes to fixing the aircraft. If people have questions about what is going on with things on the flightline ... we should, if given the information, be able to answer the questions.”

Another large section is quality assurance, where inspectors evaluate and assess aircraft maintainers’ proficiency. They also evaluate the condition of aircraft and equipment and manage maintenance programs. Responsible for investigating incidents that occur on the flightline or maintenance areas, quality assurance Airmen report their findings directly to the group commander.

Although the unit creates and regulates standards for future deployments, the Airmen assist aircraft maintainers and do not just look to write up deficiencies. They also give technical advice on questions from maintainers to ensure they are interpreting policies correctly, said Tech Sgt. Brent Goforth, an inspector deployed from Dyess AFB, Texas.

“What I enjoy the most is interacting with maintainers, not just to inspect, but to give something back with my years of experience. I try to share my knowledge to help them become better,” Sergeant Goforth said.

While the Airmen must be prepared to oversee and assist maintainers, squadron leaders said managing Airmen deployed from 17 different bases in 23 career fields with various levels of training, is their biggest challenge.

“It is a challenge, but (it is) rewarding,” said Maj. Melissa Batten, the squadron commander. “Where else would you get this many people from all walks of life working together?”