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AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy -- He stood in front of a daunting task, a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker needs to be repaired in two days, a process that normally takes four weeks.
Practicing mindfulness is often challenging for most people, but over the span of a career changing weekend, filled with tight deadlines and a potential critical mission failure, it became routine for U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jesse Marquez, 31st Fighter Wing chief technology manager. As a member of the Wyvern Spark Lab, he empowers Airmen through innovation, whether it be 3D printing a tool or creating a device to improve a process.
Marquez originally enlisted as an electrical environmental systems specialist in August 2015. While he specifically avoided choosing a job in the electrical field, as it was the hardest unit in physics for him, his mother encouraged him to chase after the hard job and join into electrical anyway.
He started his career at Fairchild AFB in Spokane, Wash., with a relatively light workload. He would take broken and condemned aircraft parts that normally would be thrown away and scrapped, find what is wrong, fix it, test it and put it back in the supply system. There were never any deadlines for when a part needed to be fixed. Everything was at his leisure, and if he could not fix it, he could always scrap it.
For two years, Marquez followed this routine of tinkering and troubleshooting. However, a formidable challenge awaited him.
“We had a unit going on a deployment, however, there was an issue with one of the KC-135’s auxiliary power unit,” explained Marquez.
The APC is how the aircraft starts without external equipment. It's required for every flight just in case they land and takeoff somewhere with no support equipment. This panel is required for the pilots to be able to fly. It must be operational.
It was not operational.
“I got a call Friday night around 10 p.m. saying the APU on the KC-135 was bad and they need it fixed,” Marquez recalled. “The aircraft had to deploy on Monday, and it had to be that one. I was the only technician in the Air Force repair and enhancement program at the time, so I came in first thing Saturday morning to start working it.”
Now working against the clock, Marquez had to remove, repair and reinstall a tiny electrical circuit, a task far from easy.
“With the type of solder repair that was required, you're actually doing it under a microscope, one twitch and it can all go haywire. Back then, I didn't handle stress very well. I was scared.” said Marquez. “If I rushed, I could end up breaking other components while trying to remove others. It was extremely nerve wracking receiving a phone call every hour asking for an update and how soon it can be fixed, all the while knowing that I, only a senior airman at the time, was this unit’s only hope.”
While battling the extreme pressure, Marquez decided to try something.
“It’s called mindful breathing,” said Marquez. “It’s something I still do today a lot when I’m stressed out or trying to concentrate. I took a mental step back and took a second to take some deep breaths and focused on calming myself down, lowering my heart rate. It's really easy to make mistakes and not fully understanding everything that's going on when you’re stressed.”
Through his guided meditation, Marquez was able to make progress on the APU.
“Once you de-stress, you realize that while the task at hand is great, you don’t have much to worry about. And I’ve done this kind of soldering before in my training, only now there’s a time constraint. Once the realization hit, it became kind of fun and relaxing doing it.”
After two long and tiring 12-hour shifts, Marquez successfully installed the APU into the KC-135. Holding his breath, he waited as the aircraft underwent tests.
“At the end of it all, we do a bunch of operational checks to make sure that everything actually works,” said Marquez. “It was scary waiting for the all-clear to be given and finding out if all my work had been for nothing.”
But the results came back positive; the KC-135 took off without a hitch.
“Watching the plane take off and still be able to deploy with all the personnel was my biggest accomplishment,” said Marquez. “It taught me a lot about how important it is to be proficient in your job and practice purposeful mindfulness. The experience kindled a fire in me again and helped me realize my job was important to the overall mission; I'm not just soldering in my back office all day.”
| Date Taken: | 02.22.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 03.04.2024 07:41 |
| Story ID: | 465239 |
| Location: | AVIANO AIR BASE, IT |
| Web Views: | 28 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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