JBER Public Affairs
1/12/2015 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- "You just have to do it right and do it slow," said Airman 1st Class Dominic Hobbs, an aircraft armament systems specialist with the 90th Aircraft Maintenance Unit.
That advice works - as long as your definition of "slow" is less than 35 minutes.
When loading 2,000 lbs of explosives and hundreds of high-explosive incendiary rounds onto a $143 million jet, 35 minutes pass by very quickly.
JBER weapons load crews are evaluated on their efficiency, safety and competence every month.
Four times a year, the crews with the best records are selected to compete in a head-to-head load crew of the quarter competition, and the winners move on to vie for the coveted title: load crew of the year.
Hobbs and his two crewmates, Airman 1st Class Charles Pole, also an aircraft armament systems specialist, and Air Force Staff Sgt. Robert Johnson, their load crew chief, participated in the quarterly competition Dec. 31, 2014.
Jets do not always have the same mission, so each load is different.
This means load crews must be able to expertly load a variety of weapons systems on their particular aircraft.
To that end, the crews are not informed what they will be loading until just minutes before they begin their timed trial.
"We're not unfamiliar with being evaluated," Pole explained. "But for this, I'm always nervous, though I get a little excited and giddy too.
"When it is time to start, all of that just goes away though."
"When you come into a load, it's almost like you have a shield around you that keeps everyone and all the pressure out," said Johnson, a native of Taylorsville, Utah. "As soon as something doesn't go the way it's supposed to, that's when things start hitting your shield and breaking holes
in it.
"That's when the pressure starts to come in."
And those shields will be tested; things don't always go smoothly when working with bombs and guns.
Johnson said the GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munition attachment went well, and when considering a projected five-to-10 minute load of the M61A2 20-mm gun, they were on track for a 25-to-30 minute total time.
That would place them well under the 35-minute time frame they were allotted.
Hobbs and Pole wheeled the Universal Ammunition Loading System up to the side of the plane.
The UALS is a large wagon with hundreds of 20-mm rounds in a snake-like loading tube, which connects to the side of the aircraft.
It automatically feeds rounds into the aircraft with little need for human intervention.
At least that's what it's supposed to do.
Johnson hooked the UALS into place and began the loading process, expecting to see rounds pumping through the serpentine interface unit and disappearing into the aircraft.
Instead, the pressure that had been safely outside of his shields began to creep in as he saw rounds coming back out of the aircraft into a separate chute.
"Belts are in 500-round increments," Johnson explained. "Half the belt had already been fed through the aircraft, so we had to finish feeding the belt through so we could take everything off and follow the checklist."
A lever controls whether the rounds are loaded into the aircraft or pass through like a belt with no buckle.
Typically the lever is set to "load," Johnson said, but this time it was on "bypass."
Johnson said he's never experienced this particular problem before, and it wasn't on their usual checklist, so it added grueling minutes to their time as they troubleshot the issue.
"By the time that was done, it was over for us," he said, still frustrated at the loss.
"In our career field, there is no margin for error," Johnson
said. "That's why every time we make a mistake, we take it to heart and don't do it again until - basically ... until we're perfect."
Many aspects of basic military training are designed to place pressure on trainees, so when they get to a wartime environment, they can handle the pressure that will inevitably break through.
But after BMT, it is competitions like this one which continue to apply that pressure and foster readiness so that when it's time for war, Airmen can perform with excellence and accomplish their mission. Awards come in second to experience gained and muscle memory.
"The number-one mission is to put bombs on target," Johnson said.
"I have a cousin in the Army who always says their best friend is a pilot in the air," Pole said. "I'm glad I can do my part to help save them.
"When they call in an airstrike, I know I loaded that jet to the best of my ability," Pole continued.
"I know that bomb's going to drop on target and save lives."
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