Crew chiefs launch jets in desert heat for Red Flag 12-4

by Master Sgt. Sonny Cohrs
23d Wing Public Affairs

7/25/2012 - NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- Red Flag 12-4, an air combat exercise known for its realistic combat training missions, also provides a certain realism for maintainers on the flightline- desert sands, 100 degree heat, and an increased operations tempo generating aircraft around the clock.

The 23d Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 74th Aircraft Maintenance Unit from Moody Air Force Base, Ga., has more than 160 maintainers here and 153,000 pounds of equipment. In their care are 14 A-10Cs, which are flying combat training missions at the nearby Nevada Test and Training Range.

"Right off the bat, the importance of this Red Flag was hammered home to everyone ... to let them know itis a much bigger thing than what we're providing for the pilots and ops," said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Neal Owens, 23d AMXS, 74th AMU first sergeant during the exercise. "We try to paint a better picture of what the pilots are doing up there and how important it is that they get this training. We briefed a lot of slides ... for the kind of operations that were being doing here and the amount of training being done -- the broader scope."

For U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Nicholas Nelson, a 23d AMXS, 74th AMU crew chief, Red Flag is a learning experience that he compares to his recent deployment to Afghanistan. He said Red Flag is as close as you can get to the "real thing" without being deployed to the Afghanistan area of responsibility.

"I like that it's more than just flying a training sortie like we do back home," he said. "It's more of an exercise and more of a real life thing - actually what you're going to be doing in the AOR. When you get back from a temporary duty like this, you always get closer as a unit."

Out on the flightline, Nelson and his fellow crew chiefs perform pre-flight, post-flight, and through-flight inspections on the aircraft. Their walk around begins two-and-a-half hours before the pilot shows up, and they complete another walk around inspection with the pilot before takeoff.

"We're responsible for the aircraft," Nelson said. "We're responsible for inspecting and making sure the aircraft is ready for the next mission. That's our job in a whole ... whether it's servicing the aircraft with fuel, hydraulics, oil or calling out the respective specialties to come and fix something - that's our job."

Nelson, a native of Phoenix, Ariz., said he loves being a crew chief and knows he is "making a difference" when he's "crewin' a jet." He joined the Air Force after being pushed toward the military by his father-in-law, an Air Force retiree.

"He wouldn't let me marry his daughter unless I found a good job," Nelson said. "It was definitely worth it."

As a retired avionics troop, a career field notorious for having friendly rivalries with crew chiefs, Nelson's father-in-law specifically told him not to become a crew chief. However, Nelson knows he made the right choice of careers, will reenlist soon, and plans to make a career in the Air Force.

Overall, morale is high for the 74th AMU both at home station and during Red Flag, according to Owens. He credits a recent influx of new leadership and the amount of preparation that has gone into making Red Flag a success for everyone involved.

"Morale is definitely high," Owens said. "We've been preparing for this and talking about Red Flag. The amount of organization that went into it has been phenomenal. We've done everything we can to bring the right people, the right equipment, the right supplies - everybody is doing the job they're supposed to do."