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Many hands make light work

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Marcus Morris
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  A crowd of 18th Wing Airmen cheered as two weapons load crews worked diligently to properly load munitions onto an F-15 Eagle during a load crew competition here, Oct. 18.

Each quarter the 18th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron holds a weapons loading competition picking two of the best crews to test their skills. Airmen are evaluated on a written test, dress and appearance inspections, tool box inspections and their ability to follow safety procedures and technical orders while loading munitions on their aircraft.

"Competing in the load competitions instills pride in our guys," said Tech. Sgt. Michael Clark, 18th Maintenance Squadron weapons loading standardizations crew chief. "They get to showcase their skills and show they are the best of the best to the guys who don't know what they do day to day."

Load competitions allow airmen to show their fellow maintainers, pilots, and the wing, that although each base may have different aircraft and therefore different loading techniques, they know their job and can do it under pressure.

On a daily basis the load crews within the 18th AMXS are responsible for ensuring the weapon systems on more than 50 F-15 Eagle aircraft are properly maintained before loading munitions for real world and exercise missions.

The teams usually work with "dummy" munitions for training operations but use live munitions as well to avoid complacency in their job. During a typical local operations readiness exercise, weapons load crews can complete more than 500 different munitions moves.

More than 50 Airmen work in three-man teams to load, unload, position and prepare munitions. One team will load munitions onto the aircraft while another team will do a final check on the runway to guarantee everything is working properly and ready for the pilots.

The wingman concept is essential in weapons loading -- a missed step in a technical order could mean the difference between working munitions or a missile or gun not working properly.

"Teamwork is paramount in any operation of weapons," Clark said. "Without a team that meshes together and works well together, they won't succeed."

The Airmen take the competition seriously, study their technical orders and practice to be the best team, encouraging them to become more proficient and taking initiative in helping their teammates. They do the same job, whether they generate aircraft for real world missions, compete in a load competition or participate in a local operations readiness exercise.

"It is a very rewarding job," said Staff Sgt. Emad Hamedeyyeh, 67th Aircraft Maintenance Unit weapons load crew member. "We help keep the base, our critical assets and our allies safe."

The winners for this quarter's load competition were Hamedeyyeh, Senior Airman Dustin Machen and Airman 1st Class Zachary Ross, assigned to the 67th AMU. It was a very close competition, but they showed what it means to have great teamwork and knowledge of the job by completing the weapons loading with the least amount of mistakes in the time limit provided.