From falcon to foe, weapons hits the mark

by Senior Airman Benjamin Stratton
8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

12/27/2011 - KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea -- As with the overall maintenance of the aircraft, there are other sections at Kunsan responsible for ensuring the Wolf Pack can indeed take the fight north when called upon.

One such section of the 8th Maintenance Group is the weapons standardizations section. For those unfamiliar with the WSS, these are the Airmen tasked with ensuring all weapons Airmen have the skills and knowledge necessary to maintain the weapon systems of the 80th and 35th Fighter Squadron's F-16 Fighting Falcons.

"We ensure they're putting reliable munitions on the aircraft," said Master Sgt. Michale Varney, 8th MXG weapons standardizations superintendent. "And during war time environments, that's the whole point of the aircraft."

"Without the weapons ... our aircraft is just another airline," said Tech. Sgt. Waylon Price, 8th MXG loading standardizations crew member.

Truth be told, across history, ever since the Air Force's mission developed from nothing more than reconnaissance to what it is today, Airmen have been tasked with ensuring their aircraft's weapons systems are operating at the highest standards.

"We are the teeth of the Wolf," said Tech. Sgt. John Torres, 8th MXG loading standardizations crew chief. "Without the training and proficiency evaluations we provide and conduct here, the pilots can't do the mission they came here to do."

That mission, yet another critical component of the Wolf Pack's overall mission, is to provide pilots with a proficient weapons system.

"We are responsible for everything from the moment when the pilot presses the button to when the munitions strike their target," Torres said.

"And that's what we evaluate. Can our crews perform within a set standard the Air Force has established?" added Varney.

Time and time again, Varney and his team are impressed, though they said what the crews do out on the line are a direct reflection of how well the WSS trained them.

"Those load crews are products of our training," said Staff Sgt. Carl Richardson, 8th MXG load crew team chief. "We give them the tools they need to succeed and then evaluate them on how well they use those tools to accomplish the mission."

Torres added these evaluations can happen at any time.

"We perform spot checks at random to keep our guys on their toes," he said. "This way we are afforded the opportunity to catch them at their best, when they're in their element and know no one is focused on their performance."

However, according to Price, quarterly load crew competitions are held among all crews from both fighter squadrons in a public forum.

"We also engage in major command-wide competitions annually," added Price, who has been assigned to units in the Pacific Air Forces for the last 10 years, the most recent three at Kunsan. "These are limited to the peninsula, so us and Osan, but we both host theater support packages with load crews from across the Air Force happy to show off their skills too."

Last year's load competition, hosted by Kunsan, pitted crews from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., RAF Lakenheath, England, Osan Air Base and those assigned to the Wolf Pack.

"It's a friendly competition between all members in our career field," Price continued. "We get to trade war stories and really build a strong sense of camaraderie."

Though they're currently trainers, Varney said his team is recalled to the line during exercises and in the event of a real-world incident.

"Our crews go back to the aircraft maintenance units if war were to break out or for the many exercises we have here at Kunsan," said Varney.

"We're all certified the same way we certify the guys we train," Torres added.

Torres continued to explain that when they go back to their units for exercises, it's to act as exercise evaluation team members.

Yet, at the end of the day, the WSS crew said they couldn't be happier with where they work.

"We're here to maintain and sharpen the Wolf's teeth," Price said. "And thanks to the guys and gals over in the ammo flight for delivering our munitions, this mission can be accomplished as one team, the Wolf Pack."

[Editor's note: This is part two of a three part series highlighting 8th MXG flights charged with ensuring Kunsan maintenance Airmen are completing the mission in compliance with set Air Force standards.]