Photo By Senior Airman Zachary Foster | U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Kelly Patino, 6th Operational Medical Readiness...... read more read more
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MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fl. – Teamwork, trust, and support are all characteristics that separate the 6th Air Refueling Wing’s multi-capable Airmen from their peers. The pursuit of inter-unit relationships is the key to ensuring 6th ARW Airmen lead the charge in the future fight.
During their most recent Commander’s Call, Col. Paul Newbold, 6th Operational Medical Readiness Squadron (OMRS) commander, unveiled a new partnership with the squadron’s maintenance counterparts.
The new program allows individual squadrons to adopt a plane from the 6th ARW’s fleet as an educational instrument for supporting agencies to learn about their role in enabling global air power, every day.
“The 6th OMRS is very excited to partner with the 6th AMXS to drive our medics’ awareness of how we support the 6 ARW mission each day,” said Newbold. “As human factors experts, our medics are charged with optimizing the performance of our military’s most lethal asset…the human weapon system. The Dedicated Flying Crew Chief and Aircraft Patron Program is a unique opportunity for our squadron members to better understand the “why” behind the amazing work they do every day to ensure we ‘Charge the Storm’ with unrelenting safety and effectiveness.”
The program kicked off with a guided tour onboard a KC-135 Stratotanker by Tech. Sgt. Anthony Hayes and Staff Sgt. Chad Dillon, 6th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron (AMXS) dedicated flying crew chiefs (DFCC).
“Patron organizations are encouraged to build a relationship with their assigned DFCCs,” said Hayes. “DFCCs work to facilitate ‘day in the life’ opportunities for non-maintenance personnel from their Patron unit to participate in aircraft generation processes.”
For many of the medical personnel in attendance, this was their first direct interaction with the wing’s air refueler.
“Having our Commander’s Call at Hangar 3 was a very special experience,” said Senior Airman Skye Everett, 6th OMRS commander’s support staff. “For our squadron to be able to celebrate our achievements alongside one of our jets and the crew members was a striking reminder that we have an incredibly supportive team across the 6th ARW that appreciates our role as medics. This event truly underscored the vital role we play as medics in maintaining the health and readiness to ensure the success of our mission. For the crew to give us that personalized time with them and the jet was an admirable moment that we will remember forever.”
This tour is the first of many collaborative immersions planned as a part of the patron program. The goal being to introduce mission experts from different career fields to new environments, showing Airmen how their individual piece fits into the air refueling puzzle.
“What I hope to accomplish with the program is to have the 6th OMRS come out and help us do actual maintenance, get them to come TDY with us, get them to launch and recover a jet,” said Hayes. “I would love to have them see the bigger picture of what they are enabling. I want them to have something to own and to say, ‘I made that happen!’”
| Date Taken: | 11.04.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 11.12.2024 10:05 |
| Story ID: | 485065 |
| Location: | TAMPA, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 768 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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