C-17 celebrates 10 years at McChord Published Aug. 18, 2009 By Tyler Hemstreet 62nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- With nearly 1,000 local community leaders and Team McChord members watching intently, McChord's first C-17 Globemaster III -- the "Spirit of McChord" -- touched down here July 30, 1999, piloted by then-Air Mobility Commander Gen. Charles "Tony" Robertson. The aptly-named aircraft was one of two C-17s flown from the Boeing plant in Long Beach, Calif., to McChord that day, kicking off an era of 10 years of C-17s operating out of McChord. The third aircraft arrived about a month later, eventually building up to the 43 C-17s stationed here today. There was a great sense of pride among onlookers and Airmen in the audience that day, said Linda Myers, who at the time worked as an air reserve technician with the 446th Airlift Wing. "People were excited to see a new weapons system like the C-17 arriving at the base," said Ms. Myers, who currently works as a quality assurance inspector with the 62nd Maintenance Group. "There was a feeling among everyone that this was going to be a good thing for us." The 728th Airlift Squadron was the first Reserve squadron at McChord to transition to the C-17. But for many loyal and diehard admirers of the C-17's predecessor, the C-141 Starlifter, the moment was also a tad bittersweet. "We had flown the C-141 for more than three decades and we were very attached to the airplane and the memories," said Lt. Col. Anna Sullivan, 446th Airlift Wing chief of public affairs. "We also had friends leaving because the new aircraft didn't require a navigator or an engineer. The departure of the last C-141s from McChord was sad and sentimental." Aircraft maintainers also had mixed feelings. "It was really strange to see a new aircraft out on the flightline," Ms. Myers said. "You're sad to see the end of an era because a lot of us loved working on the C-141." As a senior master sergeant working in the 62nd MXG, John Bobincheck spent nearly a year working with an ADVON team sent from Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., to help McChord stand up a C-17 fleet. "We were getting thousands of different pieces of bench stock and various tools and pieces of test equipment, none of which any of us had seen before," said Mr. Bobincheck, now a quality assurance functional director with the 62nd MXG. "We had no idea what any of it was. It was all completely different from anything used to work on the C-141." "The (C-17) was so technically advanced, spacious and new," Colonel Sullivan said. "There were a lot of things to learn at the time." Mr. Bobincheck still has the commemorative envelope signifying the arrival of the aircraft to McChord. "We'd seen the C-17s in the system before, and they definitely lived up to the hype and what everyone was saying they could do," he said. While Ms. Myers still attests there can never be a better aircraft than the C-141, the C-17 found a special place in her heart that day 10 years ago. "When I saw it backing up, I was blown away," she said. The C-17s arrival kicked off a new era of airlift at McChord and continues to push Airmen to new heights. "We have met some really difficult challenges in the last 10 years," Colonel Sullivan said. "We have a decade of memories now."