Photo By Master Sgt. Charles McKelvey | A Marine funnels inert munitions to be used by aircraft during Exercise Geiger Fury...... read more read more
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ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam- Every exercise has goals, whether long term or short term. In Exercise Geiger Fury 2012 those goals are the amount of sorties flown and the pounds of ordnance dropped.
With this exercise, every hour of every day requires constant work from ordnance Marines.
“For Exercise Geiger Fury, we will be supporting all three squadrons with any type of ordnance,” said Staff Sgt. Michele Starcher, a Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 12 aviation ordnance specialist.
MALS-12 ordnance Marines supply ordnance to Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 242, Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 121 and Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 232.
Ordnance Marines work in 12-hour shifts, making up a day crew and night crew.
Day crews perform most of the ordnance deliveries to the planes and other needed locations, while night crews, working under cooler weather, assemble the majority of the ordnance.
“When you have shifts like this, you’re looking for continuity,” said Gunnery Sgt. Mark Atz, Marine Aircraft Group 12 intelligence specialist. “When you start working together for two or three days, you start knowing what those people next to you are going to do before they even do it. Once they get on that same page, it’s that well-oiled machine.”
Not only does building ordnance improve job skills of Marines manufacturing them, but pilots wouldn’t be mission effective without the work of ordnance Marines.
“We build ordnance so pilots can train to fight in Afghanistan or anywhere for that matter,” said Starcher. “All of the ordnance we build, the pilots have to have specific training hours on specific munitions and it’s our job to make sure they get training on all those munitions and make sure they can drop any kind of bomb, missiles, rounds, rockets, anything they would need for a fight. We ensure all squadrons are ready for the fight.”
While ordnance Marines focus on completing their mission goals so the aircraft can complete theirs, the importance of supplying bombs and munitions is no secret.
“Without the ordnance, there’s no point to these aircraft,” said Starcher. “The sole purpose of this exercise is to drop ordnance.”
| Date Taken: | 05.29.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 05.29.2012 00:28 |
| Story ID: | 89095 |
| Location: | GU |
| Web Views: | 86 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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