News

Reserve maintainers work it in Southwest Asia

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Heidi Davis
  • 405th Expeditionary Support Squadron Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  Reservists from the 446th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron and 446th Maintenance Squadron from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., deployed in May to Southwest Asia. Here is a snapshot of what they've been doing since they left Washington.

Unit: 405th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron

Home mission: To ensure our airframes are mission-capable and maintained

Deployed mission: To provide all maintenance, munitions and aerospace ground equipment needs to ensure our aircraft can get the unit cargo to the fight

Squadron specialties: An officer in charge of maintenance, a squadron superintendent, production supervisors, APG crew chiefs, jet engine mechanics, hydraulics, communication navigation, guidance control, electro/environmental, aerospace ground equipment, ammunitions and transient aircraft

Mission impact: We have an experienced team dedicated to moving cargo to the fight on-time, every time. We established the maintenance squadron here - mission-ready within 12 hours of arrival. We have dedicated ourselves to maintaining an impressive 98.6-percent maintenance launch rate, which means we are getting the aircraft off the ramp to get the equipment to the fight. Our team takes this task to heart. They understand that every aircraft delay means equipment may not make it down range and that delay could cost lives. We are driven to get every aircraft off the ramp on-time to make the slots in the AOR.

Home station preparation: (Reservists) work directly with the active-duty. We integrate into their teams seamlessly and work side-by-side maintaining aircraft. Since we fall under Air Mobility Command (when activated), most of our policies and rules are standard, regardless of location. This means, we can expect to deliver the same quality of maintenance at every location, under the same guidelines.

We work as a team, seasoned maintainers constantly mentoring and training junior members, even in the AOR. Additionally, we spent time at home station preparing for bare base life. A full assessment of tools, equipment and checklists were obtained to ensure minimum stand-up time and solid maintenance delivery.

Adaptation to austere environment: Water, sunscreen and more water. We brought parachute cord to make dividers on our tents. We brought laptops from home station to supplement local personal computers. Chief Master Sgt. Doug Green also brought recreational games for the troops: volleyball, horseshoes, bocce ball, cards and board games. Several members brought hard drives filled with movies.

Capt. Bethany Ransier, EAMXS/ CC: My team is amazing, and they are the spotlight! They have proven themselves time and again. I can sleep at night knowing that our aircraft are in very capable hands.