Maintenance Operations Center eyes and ears of the flightline during RIMPAC

by Tech. Sgt. Terri Paden
15th Wing Public Affairs

8/4/2014 - JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii  -- Many Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam units played a hand in the success of Rim of the Pacific 2014, working tirelessly to ensure the more than 200 participating aircraft and personnel had adequate parking, fuel and access to maintenance equipment and facilities; however, one unit in particular worked around the clock to coordinate and manage the actions needed to keep the mission going.

The 15th Maintenance Operations Center typically works its coordination magic for the C-17 Globemaster III's assigned here, but stepped up for RIMPAC to handle the requests for maintenance servicing and job control for most of the aircraft involved in the exercise.

"We are the central point for maintenance, so we had to orchestrate a lot of moving parts for RIMPAC," said Master Sgt. Richard Montano, MOC noncommissioned officer in charge.

Though dealing with transient aircraft is a part of the MOC's day-to-day operations, Montano said the amount of transients increased from an average of 10 aircraft per day to nearly 50.

"It was intense," he said. "We had times where we really had to struggle for parking, and at times the wait for maintenance actions was a little longer than usual due to the volume of aircraft, but luckily all of the aircraft flew very well."

In addition to juggling the workload, Montano said the exercise proved to be an educational experience for him.

"The most interesting thing was the diversity in the units we had here," he said. "We had to make sure they understood our processes and our airfield operating procedures, but we also had to understand their needs. I learned something new every day about a different aircraft and what it needed to fly."

Staff Sgt. Ryan Hubbard, MOC weapons system coordinator, who's participating in RIMPAC for the second time, said working during RIMPAC was much like his day-to-day operation but on a much larger scale.

"RIMPAC is really busy," he said. "You don't know how to plan for the amount of work the surplus of jets brings. I was more prepared this time because I knew what to expect, but it doesn't change the amount of work or the amount calls for support you'll take in a day, you just have to plan to be busy."

Though RIMPAC came with its fair share of hardwork, Hubbard said he's just happy to know at the end of the day it pays off.

"We can see the results of our work," he said. "Every time there's a plane taking off you know something's going right because you did something right."