Photo By Staff Sgt. Scott Warner | A F-15C Eagles awaits flight at Fresno Air National Guard Base, California, May 22,...... read more read more
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As an F-15C Eagle fighter aircraft rips through the air above Fresno Air National Guard Base, California, the noise it makes as it forcefully, yet gracefully maneuvers across high altitudes can be heard for miles in every direction.
To some, the harsh piercing raucous caused by a fighter’s engines can be perceived as an annoyance. Or maybe even as a hindrance as some cars pull off the road as to catch a glimpse of a free airshow. But to others, these powerful reverberations above can sound rapturous.
This was the consensus of a group of 621st Contingency Response Wing F-15 tactical aircraft maintenance journeymen, more commonly known as crew chiefs, as they stood by and watched a group of F-15s perform some combat and maneuver training.
“Those are the sounds of freedom,” Staff Sgt. Chaz Laubach, an 821st Contingency Response Squadron F-15 fighter tactical aircraft maintenance journeyman said.
The 821st CRS falls underneath the 621st Contingency Response Wing, both can date back to its inception on June 24, 1994. While fighter crew chiefs are nothing new to the USAF, for the first time in 30 years, the 621st CRW has fighter crew chiefs as it optimizes its 1,500-plus personnel to match the needs of the Great Power Competition (GPC), which focuses on an ever-changing war-fighting dominion with peer adversaries.
“Having fighter crew chiefs increases our capabilities,” Master Sgt. Lance Giles, 821st Contingency Response Support Squadron functional readiness manager said. “Now we can receive fighter aircraft at contingency response sites that are typically in austere conditions.”
These conditions can vary extremely with the 621st CRW, from a dirt strip in the middle of nowhere to possibly a hostile and dangerously contested airfield.
This is why the 621st CRW has ramped up its training to be more rigorous, as it strives to be ready for any call to action. One of those call-to-action directives is Agile Combat Employment, more commonly known as ACE.
ACE is a USAF operational scheme of maneuverability, which can be executed within rapid and threatening timelines to increase resiliency and survivability while also generating combat power.
"Air Combat Employment states that we need to be light, lean and lethal [...] CR is primed for the ACE mission!"
- Master Sgt. Lance Giles, 821st CRSS functional readiness manager
Fighter aircraft, such as the F-15C Eagle, lend itself perfectly for ACE as it matches the Giles' description of being light, lean and lethal.
Meanwhile and simultaneously at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, another group of contingency response fighter crew chiefs hit the ground running with the F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft.
Fighter aircraft fall under a few major commands but mainly Air Combat Command.
“Before, we use to rely on the ACC to provide fighter crew chiefs to help us accomplish our specialized fueling operations training and recertification,” Giles said. “Now, with the addition of our own fighter crew chiefs, we are working together and establishing new memos of understanding and agreement to create reliable training avenues for continuous readiness training/certification."
Developing people and capabilities are some of the focus areas of the GPC, which perfectly aligns with how the 621st CRW is re-optimizing its personnel.
“Being a fighter crew chief in the CR has been a great opportunity so far,” Laubach said. “To do something that has never been done before for a unit, it is simply unique, and I am part of that initial team that will bring fighter aircraft into the fold with the CR mission set, opening up its operational versatility.”
Laubach travels frequently to Fresno ANGB to stay certified as a fighter crew chief since his home duty station at Travis Air Force Base does not have fighter aircraft assigned to it. However, it is much more than that.
“Working with the Fresno ANGB and their crew chief team has been amazing from the start,” Laubach said. “In turn with helping them fulfill their mission, they have helped our non-fighter crew chiefs learn how to be comfortable maintaining the F-15. It’s been a really positive experience so far and it shows how rewarding the Mission Ready Airmen concept can be, both personally and professionally.”
The concept emphasizes a warrior ethos for all Airmen, integrated through all facets of training, development, education and action. MRA are trained in expeditionary skills and capable of accomplishing tasks outside of their core Air Force Specialty Code. For the 621st Contingency Response Wing, MRA has always been at its roots because when a unit deploys, it can deploy with more than 30 different career fields, each needing a basic understanding of how to perform others career fields to open, operate and close a fully operational airbase.
Whether it’s MRA or ACE concept, CR airmen have embraced the push to meet the challenges demanded by the Great Power Competition and have embraced it as a community of ready warriors.
| Date Taken: | 07.19.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 07.29.2024 11:18 |
| Story ID: | 476946 |
| Location: | TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 59 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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