MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. -- Guard, Reserve and active duty maintainers congregate at March for hands-on training and to exchange knowledge
March Air Reserve Base recently welcomed 28 active duty, Reserve and Guard maintainers to train together and exchange skills and techniques to optimize maintenance on the KC-135 Stratotanker F-108 engine.
The combined Advanced F-108 Training course was the first of its kind. What made the class unique was the diversity of the attendees, with maintainers from five commands and six bases bringing their own expertise to the group.
"The term for [this] today is knowledge transfer," said Jeff Hammett, class leader and field service engineer for General Electric located at McChord Air Force Base, Wash. "What you do is bring people together that specialize in something and transfer that knowledge."
The 452nd Maintenance Squadron volunteered to host the event at March ARB because they realized the importance of the knowledge exchange and hands-on experience their troops would be getting, Hammett said.
The class was proficiency training for the more experienced maintainers and something completely new to the less-experienced maintainers.
The training consisted of classroom discussions in the mornings and hands-on training in the afternoons, where students applied what they learned on an engine in an actual KC-135 Stratotanker.
"I have eight years experience, so it's refresher training for me, but it is a good refresher training because attaching engine vibration test equipment is few and far between," said Staff Sgt. Carlo Mangno, an engine propulsions technician from Edwards Air Force Base.
The maintainers at the course were able to do things that are not done very often and experts were right there to help them, said Hammett.
"The whole idea behind this training was to take the hardest things they do every day or don't get to do every day and bring those people together and give them those opportunities to try it," said Hammett. "They're inputting problems and doing what they would be doing on the flight deck with a running jet engine."
The class also supplied special equipment not all maintainers were familiar with, including a Field Training Detachment program which allows them to practice running scenarios and performing procedures they would be doing on the actual aircraft itself.
"In most cases, it's just a classroom environment and they don't get an opportunity to perform the skills on the aircraft," said Senior Master Sgt. Mark Dunn, 452nd Maintenance Squadron propulsions flight chief at March. "It's huge for our group commander, Colonel Stormes, to even let us do this."
For the maintainers to work directly on the aircraft, it means the aircraft is not available to conduct missions. But the benefit of allowing the class to physically work on the aircraft outweighs the short amount of time that the aircraft was not being used, said Hammett. By bringing everyone together to a single place, only one aircraft was needed instead of the six that would have been needed if Hammett and the other trainers had been required to travel to conduct training on each base individually.
"For Colonel Stormes, he's setting the standard at this point," said Hammett. "It's cross utilization across the Guard, active duty and Reserve. You just don't [normally] see it."
Even the newest attendees saw the importance of the class.
"I am fortunate to be here," said Senior Airman Charles Sutacio, 752 AMXS jet engine mechanic at March ARB. "I liked hearing everyone talking and discussing how to do things better."
Each time people from so many different organizations come together, they form a pool of information that is shared in verbal exchange. They take that knowledge back to their shops at their home base and pass the information on, where it continues to spread, said Hammett, who hopes other bases will volunteer next year and the course will expand within the Air Force.