The 927th's 'Excellent' Adventure

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Shawn Rhodes
  • 927th Air Refueling Wing
MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. --  It's early morning when Edwin hears his phone ring. He answers it quickly, but fears the worst. On the other end of the line, he hears the words "We are initiating a recall. Call the unit control center immediately." In minutes, Edwin is in his car, heading toward the Air Force base where he works. As he drives, Edwin listens to the radio for any news. He learns that planes struck the Twin Towers and the Pentagon that morning. The military is on high alert, expecting more attacks. Tactical strike forces are being prepared for a counterattack across the nation. Edwin is nervous, but this is what he has trained for since joining the Air Force. It's his job to help keep those strike force planes in the air, even under a nuclear, biological or chemical attack. "When the hammer drops, we need these planes to fly," Tech. Sgt. Edwin Blanco said. Blanco, a crew chief for the 927th Air Refueling Wing, was brand new to the Air Force in September 2001 and he understands the seriousness of his mission then and now. He added, "If the call comes, I don't shave or kiss my wife goodbye. I grab my bags and start inspecting jets ... the purpose of our jobs, for us, is to see how fast we can get the plane ready to be in the air while still being safe."

It's impossible to recreate the tension and anxiety that Sergeant Blanco and many others in the military felt during the terrorist attacks of 9/11, but it's possible to recreate the mission they were asked to accomplish: with limited notice, prepare the refueling jets to be in the air to assist tactical aircraft in the worst possible scenario - an attack of horrible proportions against the United States.

Operational Readiness Inspections, or ORIs, are conducted by the Air Force's Office of the Inspector General each year to various units. This multi-day inspection is the main way the inspector general determines whether the unit can mobilize its forces, handle security threats, get its planes in the air - and succeed in its mission. In the case of the planes at MacDill Air Force base, the main mission is to refuel planes in midair. The KC-135 tanker aircraft are older than many of the Airmen that maintain and fly them, but they still serve an essential purpose. Without them, there would be no way combat and reconnaissance planes could fly thousands of miles - in a hurry - without landing for fuel. It's every Airman's responsibility at MacDill to make sure this mission succeeds.

Lynchpins
Although aerial refueling is the climactic moment of the tanker's mission, there are countless steps and people who make it possible. Among the most important Airmen involved in this mission are the crew chiefs. They are the lynchpins that everything revolves around up until the moment the planes leave the runway and often afterward. However, crew chiefs have an interesting way of preparing aircraft for their missions.

"It's my job to break planes," Sergeant Blanco said with a grin. He quickly added, "I need to make sure the plane breaks on the ground, and not in the air."

During the ORI and in day-to-day operations, crew chiefs are responsible for coordinating the efforts of all the specialized repair personnel that service the KC-135. With hundreds of thousands of parts on the KC-135, this is no easy task. When the urgency that comes with a short timeline and inspectors watching their every move is added, crew chiefs must be a jack-of-all-trades and effective supervisors.

"When something breaks down, I know every resource we have is a key part," sergeant Blanco said. "During the inspection, just like during a real-world operation, things can go wrong. Whether it is a plane leaking fuel or something wrong with the hydraulic system, I need to know how to get the plane working as quickly as possible."

Preparing For War
"When reservists come to the unit from their (technical) school, they're really gun-ho and into what they're doing," said Tech. Sgt. Jumar Garcia, an aircraft hydraulic maintainer for the 927th ARW.

It's Sergeant Garcia's job to supervise the hydraulic technicians working under him. In the case of the NORI, he has to make sure his Airmen are not only proficient in their jobs, but also ready to go to war. While this may be an easy thing to monitor for active-duty service members who see their Airmen every day, Sergeant Garcia may go a month - or more - in between seeing the traditional reservists assigned to his unit.

"There is a potential for some reservists to lose their edge, so it's my job as their supervisor to make sure they are ready to do this during a war," Sergeant Garcia said.

One of the requirements of the ORI is that Airmen be able to perform their jobs in hazardous - or even lethal - environments. This requires them to be in chemical-protection gear and still perform their jobs.

"The chemical environment throws a lot of curve balls at you," Sergeant Garcia said. "With the engines running on the jets and hydraulic fluid leaking, it can be difficult to perform the job in (chemical- protective) gear."

Some of the Airmen have years of experience like Sergeants Blanco and Garcia. Some have undergone both real-world situations like 9/11 and ORI before. The leadership of these experienced Airmen is invaluable, just as the skills the reservists bring to the table are invaluable.

"A lot of our reservists have mechanical backgrounds; some have worked on tractors or on cars," Sergeant Blanco said. The experience brought by traditional reservists helps them apply their skills to maintaining the aircraft. He went on to say "Their experiences and the NORI will help our troops learn how to launch these planes, even in their chemical gear."

Inspection
The ORI inspection grades all aspects of the unit's capability to perform their mission on short notice. From security forces to intelligence specialists to the maintenance members on the flight line, everyone is involved. The senior enlisted members of the 927th work closely with their counterparts on the active duty side, the 6th Air Mobility Wing, to ensure there is a seamless team during the inspection. Both reservists and active duty airmen need to be equally proficient in their jobs in order to score well and be confident they can perform their jobs in a real-world environment.

"We train our people to maintain aircraft and win the war," said Senior Master Sgt. Jane Hall, the 927th ARW aircraft maintenance squadron chief. "Our troops understand that, so I'm not worried about their attitude. We have folks volunteering to stay late and work with their active-duty counterparts. Everyone wants to walk away knowing they did the best they could."

Just like in real-world operations, planes can malfunction during an exercise. This is exactly what happened to one of the KC-135 tankers that was ready on the flight line when the order came to have it ready to fly.

"At the 11th hour we had an aircraft malfunction," Sergeant Hall said. This particular aircraft was one of the few that would be examined by the visiting inspection team. She said her Airmen performed superbly in finding a replacement for it so the team would have all the necessary aircraft prepared for the mock mission.

"We had everyone working together - towing the aircraft (off the flight line) and having the spare brought up," Sergeant Hall said. "We had a hiccup and recovered. Everyone performed really well."

Both the 927th Air Refueling Wing and the 6th Air Mobility Wing passed the inspection with flying colors, acheiving an 'excellent' rating.