Photo By Traci Boutwell | For 34 years, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Leon Cardona has supported the Army’s UH-60...... read more read more
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For Chief Warrant Officer 5 Leon Cardona, Black Hawk helicopters represented an open door of opportunity during a 34-year Army career.
As a teenager, Cardona was an aspiring vehicle mechanic. When he enlisted in the delayed entry program, he wasn’t even old enough to have a driver’s license. But, the Army offered him a job as an aircraft mechanic.
“I was just a kid growing up in California who wanted some money for college when I signed up,” Cardona recalled. “The Army gave me more than money for college. It provided for economic stability, educational support, professional experience and leadership development. It also gave me a job that was both challenging and rewarding in many ways.”
During the past three years, Cardona has served as the Aviation Branch Maintenance Officer at the Aviation and Missile Command, a position that allows him to assist and support aircraft repair Soldiers and maintainers across the aviation enterprise. He will be trading in his assignment for the new opportunities of retirement during a ceremony that actually falls on his service anniversary – Oct. 19. The retirement ceremony will be at 4 p.m. in the Bob Jones Auditorium.
“AMCOM and its employees have been great,” Cardona said. “I’ve enjoyed working with a lot of former military at AMCOM who understand that it is the Soldier at the end of the line who is going to be affected by the decisions we make here.
“The contracting and sustainment decisions made at AMCOM have second and third level affects. They are felt by Soldiers who are working to keep aircraft flying in strenuous conditions. For that reason, we have to make sure the decisions are right. Whatever we can do to relieve the workload of Soldiers that’s the right thing to do. Our customer is the Soldier in the field.”
Cardona understands the challenges of Soldier aviation mechanics and pilots because he has served in similar boots through deployments during Operation Desert Shield/Storm, Bosnia Stabilization Force-8, Operation Enduring Freedom-Afghanistan, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn.
He enlisted in 1983 as a tactical transport helicopter repairer and remained in that military occupational specialty during 10 years as an enlisted Soldier with assignments at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and in Korea. He took on assignments as crew chief, phase team leader, technical inspector and floor supervisor, and eventually became a chief warrant officer.
He deployed in 1990 for nearly eight months in support of Operation Desert Shield/Storm, where his work as a maintenance supervisor for the 326th Medical Battalion – “Eagle Dustoff” – kept Black Hawk helicopters flying despite the challenges of wartime conditions in a sandy environment. Eagle Dustoff involved 12 Medevac Black Hawks conducting medical evacuations from King Fahd International Airport, Tactical Assembly Area Campbell and Forward Operating Base Cobra.
Cardona’s work in keeping the Medevac units flying rekindled a long-held desire to actually sit in the helicopter’s pilot seat.
“I worked on them, so I wanted to fly them,” he said. “I was interacting a lot with pilots and I was already in the aviation field, so the next logical step for me was the next level – to become a test pilot.
“There’s a lot of job satisfaction in being able to take a helicopter that’s been grounded for repairs and then repairing it so it can fly again. It’s rewarding to be able to repair the helicopter, but it’s even more rewarding to fix it and then fly it, and then turn it back over to younger Soldiers to fly missions. It’s also rewarding to work with the young mechanics, to teach them, mentor them and share with them the things I’ve learned over the years.”
Cardona attended the Initial Entry Rotary Wing training program, where he graduated in the top 10 percent of his class as an OH-58 A/C Kiowa scout pilot. But, at his first assignment as a pilot with the 6-101 at Fort Campbell, he flew the UH-1 Huey helicopter as part of the Command Aviation Company.
In 1994, he completed the UH-60 Black Hawk Qualification Course and was assigned to the 9-101, and then, in 1996, he completed the UH-60 Black Hawk Maintenance Test Pilot Course. He is a qualified UH-60A/L/M Black Hawk maintenance manager, test pilot and examiner.
As a Black Hawk pilot, Cardona spent eight years of his career with various units at Fort Campbell. At his career’s 20-year mark, Cardona and his wife, Hyon, decided to take on one more assignment – to Hawaii – before retirement. But, then 9-11 happened and the family lived on the island for 12 years while Cardona took on four back-to-back deployments with the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade: in 2004-05 to Bagram, Afghanistan; in 2006-07 and 2009-10 to Contingency Operating Base Speicher in Tikrit, Iraq; and in 2012-13 to Kandahar, Afghanistan.
“My wife is the rock of the family as she always took care of the household and the children, so that I didn’t have to worry about them while I was deployed. It’s amazing how much our families endure while we are away. Without her support, I could not have focused on our mission,” Cardona said.
At AMCOM, Cardona doesn’t fly Black Hawks often. But he still has a mentorship and support role with today’s young mechanics and pilots.
“In this job, I get to touch every unit from the enterprise level,” he said.
“I provide support for processes and issues, and work with the brigade aviation maintenance officers – the chief warrant officers 4s and 5s – to ensure they have the equipment, manpower and experience to maintain helicopters. In this capacity, I am able to mentor and teach, and, hopefully, still make a positive difference for Soldiers on mission. The sphere of influence in this role is a lot larger than any other assignment I’ve had in my career.”
During his time at AMCOM, Cardona successfully pushed to transform AMCOM 101 for Aviation from a forum focused on Army aviation leadership preparing for deployment to a forum open to a larger audience of 200-plus that includes aviation Soldiers from all ranks and missions.
“It is a good networking opportunity for our younger Soldiers, and something I wish I had when I was younger,” he said.
“We have to get more units at this event so Soldiers across the Army understand AMCOM is their reach-back capability for sustainment issues and readiness. If they don’t know about us, they can’t call on us for help and support. AMCOM 101 gives them a better understanding of the aviation enterprise and how we all fit together in supporting the Army’s operational readiness.”
Cardona believes the strength of the Army is in leadership’s ability to mentor and teach young Soldiers.
“Personally, every young kid comes into the military looking for some stability and direction,” he said. “It requires good leadership to point you in the right direction and provide opportunities to help you see what you are good at and where you can succeed.
“My leaders helped me in that way. They also helped me to understand my responsibilities. Once you understand your direction and responsibilities, then you have to grow and be a leader who then looks for talents in younger Soldiers so you can return the favor.”
Cardona’s retirement plans include travel to visit family, and then eventually settling down in Hawaii with his wife. They are looking forward to enjoying time together and visiting with their two grown children – Bryan, a former Air Force electrical technician who is now engaged to be married and living in Alaska, and Natalia, an Army Captain and psychologist stationed in Korea.
| Date Taken: | 09.29.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 09.29.2017 13:47 |
| Story ID: | 250064 |
| Location: | REDSTONE ARSENAL, ALABAMA, US |
| Hometown: | REDSTONE ARSENAL, ALABAMA, US |
| Web Views: | 142 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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