Cop becomes crew chief for a day

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Rachel Bush
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM (AFPN) --  On a typical day at work, Airman 1st Class Andrew Cox is an entry controller with the 380th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron here, directing hundreds of cars through the entry control point. Recently, he spent his day directing a KC-135 Stratotanker into the air.

The opportunity to launch a tanker came as a complete surprise to Cox. Senior Master Sgt. Chris Hauer, superintendent of the 380th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron’s KC-135 aircraft maintenance section, was the man behind the surprise.

“Throughout my day, I come in contact with hard-working security-forces troops,” Hauer said. “They all do a great job, and I was thinking to myself, ‘How can I do something positive for them?’ I talked to Master Sergeant (Gene) Cressy (superintendent of the 380th ESFS) and asked him if he had any sharp, hard-working troops (who) would like to launch out one of our aircraft. He immediately said Airman First Class Cox was the man.”

With that, Cox reported for duty on the flightline instead of at guard mount. There, he was teamed with Airman 1st Class Joshua Massey, a KC-135 crew chief, to learn the basics of launching an aircraft.

Massey took Cox through all the preflight procedures, explained to him what launching the plane would entail and answered questions about his job, including Massey’s favorite question, “What is it like to launch a jet?”

"Not all launches are the same,” Massey answered. ”Sometimes it is really exciting and sometimes not; it just depends on what happens. Because of the environment here, a lot more things can go wrong. If something breaks and it is easy to fix, it is no big deal. We fix it, and the mission goes out on time. But if it is something more complicated, it is a rush to see how the crew chiefs and specialist can work together as a team to solve the problem and still have an on-time mission.”

Cox said it was an exciting learning opportunity for him.

“I thought the whole experience was great,” he said. “It was amazing to learn how much work is involved in launching a plane. I had no idea about everything that they do. It is really interesting to experience the inner workings of another career field.”

The KC-135 community would like to continue giving wing airmen the opportunity to experience what they get to experience everyday, according to Hauer.

“In the past, we've tried to get people on incentive flights, but since we are flying combat missions only, only essential personnel can fly,” Hauer said. “I figured this was a way to reward some of the wing’s hard-working troops. It's always fun to see how the other units on base operate and where you fit into the big picture.

“Everyone here has an important role, and the wing can't operate without everyone doing his or her part,” he said. “It also gives my maintainers an opportunity to show off what they do. We’re proud of what we do, and I hope everyone in the wing feels the same way. We feel that we have the best job in the world. Even though we may get paid for what we do, the real reward is when we see a KC-135 take off and the landing gear disappear inside the aircraft. It's a feeling that is hard to describe. I've been in more than 22 years, and I still get that feeling every time we launch an aircraft.”