Six maintainers earn Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals

by Staff Sgt. Veronica Montes
92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

1/27/2015 - FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- Six maintainers from the 92nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron earned Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals Jan. 23 for their part in repairing a Navy E-6 Mercury during an exercise in October 2014.

The award recipients were Tech. Sgt. Christopher Marks, Staff Sgt. Daniel Fraser, Senior Airman Garret Jensen, Senior Airman Devin Tatman, Airman 1st Class Brandon Cochran and Staff Sgt. Christopher Moore, who was unable to attend.

The individuals, who are all propulsions systems technicians, received the awards for their actions during the Global Thunder exercise repairing a Navy E-6 Mercury that had engine issues and shredded acoustical panels.

"We were able to get the panels changed out in a 12-hour shift, which is a job that takes normally 24 to 36 hours to do," Marks said. "Typically this could cause the Navy members to be down a week or two waiting for parts to arrive, but with my guys volunteering their time and us jumping in, we were able to knock out that maintenance practice in about 12 hours."

Lt. Col. James Dorn, 92nd AMXS commander, said when the incident happened, the team didn't hesitate to help. They were able to acquire the parts, and fix all the engines, which saved the Navy downtime.

"Their actions actually opened up extra dialogue with the Navy which resolved other support issues when they do visit Fairchild again," he said. "That extra dialogue and mission impact was exceptional."

"My guys made me proud that day," Marks said. "I was very impressed with their skills and professionalism, and how well they worked with another service of the military."

Marks said one of the highlights was working with another branch, and it was a great experience because the Navy members were very accommodating, helpful and professional. He said it was great to see one team one fight, and have the team really knock it out of the park.

"For me, this was awesome," said Cochran, who has only been in the Air Force about a year. "It was a great experience because I got to go up a different aircraft and the flight engineer showed us around. It was great to work with a different service and see how they function."

Marks and Cochran both agreed it was fantastic to have Col. Brian McDaniel, the 92nd Air Refueling Wing commander, come and present the medals to the team, and it showed how hard they really work.

"This is the excellence that we strive for--standing right here, and we have a sister service recognizing them," McDaniel said to the recipients. "That is a big deal, that is who you are, that's why you're proud maintainers."