Maintainers make ‘maintenance magic’

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Matthew Rosine
  • 416th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
KARSHI-KHANABAD AIR BASE, Uzbekistan (AFPN) --  Working behind the scenes, a small group of Airmen here toil around the clock to ensure that the base’s flying mission is accomplished.

They are the maintainers of the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron maintenance flight.

“We know what we are here to do -- maintain our aircraft,” said Capt. Chuck Lee, 774th EAS maintenance operations officer. “That is our mission, and we are proud to maintain that mission.”

For the past four months, their mission accomplishment rate has remained at 100 percent. During that time, the squadron has delivered more than 18,000 tons of cargo and more than 32,000 troops. This perfect record is the highest rate in the entire area of responsibility, maintenance officials said.

“Since we don’t have all the resources we need to measure success like we do at home stations, mission effectiveness is our only true yard stick for measuring success,” Captain Lee said.

Adding to the challenge and significantly contributing to the flight’s success is the integration of Airmen from seven Air National Guard units with one active-duty maintenance unit, officials said.

“We have taken maintainers from all different units and blended our strengths together,” said Tech. Sgt. Gene Suddath, a774th EAS expediter. “Our older guys help out our younger guys, and our younger troops learn valuable experience that they would never get as traditional guardsmen. A lot of our successes come from the level of experience we have (working) on the same airframe for 10 to 12 years. We have seen enough reoccurring (maintenance issues) to know the best ways to fix them.”

“It has been really amazing,” Captain Lee said. “Some of our older guard members have worked on the same airframe almost since the day it rolled off the assembly line. They have mastered the art of maintenance. And our younger active-duty folks know the complete science of maintenance. Together they are teaching each other and learning from each other. It might sound silly but it is true -- together they are making maintenance magic,” he said.

Among the maintainers’ challenges are the shortage or difficulty in getting certain parts, having no hangars to perform aircraft maintenance and the tough conditions that C-130 Hercules aircraft here go through every day over Afghanistan.

But despite all the challenges and the quiet, behind-the-scenes nature of their work, the maintainers here continue doing what they do best -- maintaining excellence.

“As long as there are aircraft here, we’ll always be here to support that mission,” Captain Lee said. “We are maintainers, and whether at home or abroad, we will provide the consistent and reliable aircraft maintenance that the U.S. Air Force is known for.”