FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash -- Active duty Airmen and Washington Air National Guard technicians at Fairchild work together in a Dedicated Crew Chief program as part of the historical change to a Classic Association.
As a result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act, the 92nd Air Refueling Wing and the 141st Air Refueling Wing have been making strides to fulfill the requirements in becoming the first Classic Association between an Active Duty wing and an Air National Guard wing.
One portion of this association is to develop a sustainable program on how maintenance activities will be accomplished on all the KC-135 airframes at Fairchild.
In August of 2008 a test bed of four jets was assigned a team of individual crew chiefs from both the active duty and guard Airmen, creating an integrated Dedicated Crew Chief program, said Chief Master Sgt. Mark Kruger, 141st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Superintendent.
"This is the tip of the spear of what is happening with this association," said Maj. Curt Puckett, 141st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Commander. Crew chiefs are the general mechanics of the airframe.
"The beauty of the program is that I get to come in and work the same airframe everyday," said Tech. Sgt. Joseph Huddleston, Air National Guard technician. "The program provides a sense that he is always in the know of what is going on with the airframe", he said.
Both Active and Guard crew chiefs work together to maintain their assigned aircraft, working from the same maintenance facility. "We take pride in our plane and know what needs to be done on it today; and we look forward to working on it tomorrow," said Senior Airmen Andrew Mitchell, 92nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. "This is a return to the way the National Guard provided maintenance for many years," said Huddleston. "The program works. These 50 plus year old aircraft need the special attention that the DCC provides," he said.
As with any change, there have been challenges. However, throughout this process the four aircraft that have been assigned to the program have seen an increase in maintenance, said Staff Sgt. Dan Donivan, 92nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. "We have the opportunity down here to provide preventive maintenance," he said. "We have been able to do everything on our aircraft for the past few months," said Huddleston. "The program is working beautifully on this aircraft," he said.
Sharing the aircraft is not the only thing that the members of the DCC experience. There's also a new sense of camaraderie.
"We don't have any challenges with working together, we just do our job," said Huddleston. "I think that they handpicked some good mechanics to come down here and work with us," he said.
"It's nice to work with the Guard," said Mitchell, "and to get experience from them." "We have moments of doing great," said Kruger, "This is going to work."