Courtesy Photo | Spc. Andrew Lewis. a member of Bravo Company, 642nd Support Battalion, New York Army...... read more read more
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CHORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Thirty Soldiers from Bravo Company, 642nd Support Battalion deployed here to the Corpus Christi Army Depot for annual training June 16-30 to prepare troops for aviation maintenance skills across nine different specialty functions.
The Soldiers, based out of Ronkonkoma, N.Y., conducted maintenance training to support their work on UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47 Chinook aircraft.
Bravo Company is the 642nd Support Battalion’s aircraft maintenance company and the Soldiers received a full spectrum of maintenance tasks, explained Sgt. 1st Class Ronald Hernandez, responsible for coordinating the hands-on training at the depot.
“The training was phenomenal,” Hernandez said. The experience was invaluable, he said. “We were able to do a weeks’ worth of work in two days,” Hernandez said.
He credited the success of the training to the quality of Soldiers.
“We have a lot of talented Soldiers in the unit and it was a great opportunity using the equipment available and the right tools to train on,” he said.
Corpus Christi is the Army’s largest facility of its type in the world for aviation maintenance. It provides an environment for the aviation Soldiers and technicians to work on complex maintenance issues otherwise unavailable at home station.
This type of hands-on training is critical for the battalion to function efficiently, said Sgt. Daniel Maher, a full-time military maintenance technician in Ronkonkoma. “I hope we can go again.”
The state-of-the-art facilities allowed the Soldiers to get in-depth knowledge, gain valuable experience and utilize specialized equipment only found at this facility.
Hernandez felt the training was exactly what the National Guard needs right now.
“You can get good training at the unit, but nothing compares to working at the only facility in the world where you can actually test the blades on a helicopter.”
The work at the Army depot provided opportunities for maintenance work unavailable anywhere else, said Staff Sgt. Vianney Patino, an aircraft electrician.
“We were able to work at a depot level maintenance which means we would strip the aircraft to bare bones,” Patino said. “By learning exactly how to wire a helicopter, it cuts down on maintenance time because you know exactly where everything is routed…it was labor intensive but we were happy to do it.”
“The equipment was great,” said Spc. Nicholas Levine, an aircraft electrician. “It was much different so it helped us use different techniques for repairs… It definitely showed us what right looks like.”
Levine is also a full time federal military technician at the flight facility in Ronkonkoma and plans to bring back some of the procedures and equipment used at the depot in order to make the unit shop cleaner and more efficient.
Each New York Soldier worked alongside a depot counterpart to gain proficiency on their specific skill.
Some of the Soldiers received additional training that will benefit not just their military service but add commercial certifications for civilian work as well.
Both Patino and Levine received aviation industry certificates after completing a five–day soldering class during the training.
“The course taught both civilian sector and military Inter-Process Communication (IPC) standards and is good for two years,” Levine said.
These IPC standards are used by electronics manufacturer’s world-wide to standardize the assembly production of electronic equipment. This certification allows these Soldiers to be proficient at both military and civilian in the electronics industry.
Story and photos by Sgt. Mathew Kratts, 642nd Support Battalion
| Date Taken: | 08.04.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 08.28.2018 12:57 |
| Story ID: | 290469 |
| Location: | CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 77 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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