Load crews compete for honors

by Air Force Staff Sgt. Robert Barnett
673d Air Base Wing Public Affairs

4/24/2014 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska  -- Air Force Staff Sgt. Jarrett Hayman, 90th Aircraft Maintenance Unit weapons load team crew chief, raced around an F-22 Raptor, performing final checks on a Guided Bomb Unit-32 on the flightline at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, April 18, 2014.

His team, Senior Airman Stephan Doherty and Airman 1st Class Deangelo Hamilton, had finished loading the training ammunition onto the aircraft. Hayman completed his final review as his teammates finished putting the tools away, then the three stood in position and formally announced they had finished the load crew competition. The team won the quarterly 3rd Maintenance Group competition, beating their rivals from the 525th Aircraft Maintenance Unit.

"It's good; I felt we had a good load," Hayman said. "We were doing what we would do in the real world - load munitions on the jet for wartime."

The mission of a load crew is to load munitions onto the aircraft safely, efficiently and reliably. The weapons load competitions test the unit's abilities and help them improve in the safety of a training environment. The competition is performed with training missiles that weigh and feel like the real thing, but lack the explosive risk, said Air Force Staff Sgt. Jamie Swanston, 3rd Maintenance Group weapons standardization member.

This training prepares the load crews for higher standards in the real world mission. It also saves money since the competition takes place at JBER, Swanston said.

The load competition consists of dress and appearance, a knowledge test, an inspection of their tools and equipment, and the load itself, he said. During the load portion of the competition, one person has to operate the MJ-1 Lift Truck used to transport the GBU-32 into the main weapons bay while the other two guide and load the missile. The three also have to carry a separate AIM-9 Sidewinder missile to be loaded onto the side of the aircraft.

"Loading and maintaining the aircraft is the meat and potatoes of their job," Swanston said. "If we have to load weapons up at a moment's notice, we know it can be done safely, proficiently and in a timely manner. It's a combat job."

The 90th and 525th aircraft maintenance units train regularly to be proficient at their jobs, including competing in quarterly loading competitions. The leadership of the load crew members ensure their people are trained to keep the mission running smoothly.

"We train monthly, and whoever gets the best score throughout one quarter gets to go up for load crew of the quarter," Hayman said. "It's an honor to be able to do that."

"It's definitely an honor to be chosen as the crew to do this," said Airman 1st Class Sean Lancaster, 525th AMU. "It was a little intense. This is my first load competition; I was fairly nervous going in. I feel like we did well; it's a good experience."

The members have the opportunity to demonstrate what they do and how well they do it to their friends and family during the quarterly competitions.

"It's making sure that all the weapons load crews are proficient at doing the task," Hayman said. "I feel like we're ready if we're called upon."