BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. –
In the true spirit of the concept, "one team, one fight," the 940th Maintenance Group, from Beale Air Force Base, Calif., teamed up with the 154th Maintenance Squadron, at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, Sept. 14-28, 2007, helping to keep their planes flying.
The 154th MXS is part of the Hawaii Air National Guard, with close to 1,500 members assigned to Hickam AFB. They are an associate unit working along side the active duty, who are assigned to the 15th Airlift Wing, 13th Air Force and Pacific Air Forces.
The Guard maintenance squadron is responsible for nine KC-135 Stratotankers assigned to the Guard, as well as the newest airframe assigned to the active duty; eight C-17 Globemasters.
For at least three years, the 940th MXG performed annual tour with the 154th MXS to provide their Guard brethren support in maintaining the KC-135s. Now the 940th is taking the opportunity to become familiar with, and learn to maintain the C-17s.
The only thing that distinguished one unit from the other were the major command and unit patches on their battle dress uniforms.
The 940th's Reservists were found working in hydraulics, electro-environmental, sheet metal, aero repair, aerospace ground equipment and the battery shop, as well as on the flight line and in the orderly room for the 154th.
The maintenance crews talked about some of the unique challenges Hickam's Air Guard unit deals with while completing their mission.
According to Senior Master Sgt. Gene Graye, 940th MXG Electro-environmental technician, historic preservation comes first and foremost at the base.
On the morning of Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the American forces, Army, Navy, Marine, Air Corp and Coast Guard, stationed at several locations around Hawaii. It was the attack that brought the U.S. into World War II.
The physical evidence from that attack is everywhere at Hickam; outside the buildings, and inside the World War II era hangars that house the Air National Guard.
The steel supports bear lines of bullet strafings; they are creased and furrowed where hot armament plowed through the metal, and the walls are pock-marked with bullet and mortar holes.
But only a few feet away, maintenance crews swarm over a new C-17, performing routine maintenance with modern equipment, on a schedule to keep the fleet airborne.
Master Sgt. Ralph Martinez, 940th MXG quality assurance supervisor, pointed out that in addition to maintaining the two different aircraft, the maintenance squadron also uses two different maintenance tracking systems.
"The KC-135 is maintained with the Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance System, or CAMS," Sergeant Martinez said. "The C-17 is on the Core Automated Maintenance System for Mobility, known as GO-81. This was an Air Mobility Command initiative."
"They don't talk to each other," Sergeant Graye said, "which costs more time and money. We also have to train people for both systems."
From these systems right down to aircraft tires, nothing is interchangeable between the two aircraft.
Sergeant Martinez noticed a line of tires sitting in a rack were stamped with "C-17" and a brand name like auto tires.
"There's no making a mistake when the name is right on it," Sergeant Martinez said, chuckling.
Another challenge, according to Senior Master Sgt. Nathan Koide of the 154th MXS, is the size of the hangars.
"There aren't any dedicated to these two air frames because they are too big to fit completely inside, and the hangars cannot be modified," he said. "Inspections have to be done at the wash rack outside."
If the wind goes above 25 knots, which often happens on the island, the inspections cannot be performed outside, thus halting that phase of maintenance.
Sergeant Koide recently hosted a site survey team for Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century. AFSO 21 is a new concept designed to help critical areas like aircraft maintenance figure out how best to get the job done.
"It was gratifying that the site survey team was visiting during a bad storm," said Sergeant Koide, "so they got to see some of the challenges we have first hand."