Maintaining excellence during the exercise

Published Aug. 20, 2014
By Airman 1st Class Alex Echols
325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Tyndall's week-long deployment exercise has concluded, and the 325th Maintenance Group has reported unmitigated success.

"Our maintainers performed outstandingly," said Lt. Col. Charity Banks, 325th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron commander. "Whether they were processing at midnight, fixing aircraft in the rain or moving cargo to set-up the simulated deployed location, everyone kept their focus and a positive attitude. It has been long hours and hard work, but everyone deserves recognition for their teamwork and success."

The 325th MXG's main mission throughout the exercise was to get Tyndall's F-22 Raptors ready for war and, once at the simulated deployed location, keep them mission capable.

This included ensuring any maintenance needed on the jets was completed beforehand, generating the jets so they are prepped to travel to the deployed location and once deployed, making sure they have the ability and resources to provide continuing maintenance in support of combat missions.

"There are hundreds of maintenance actions, performed by maintainers from more than a dozen Air Force specialty codes, required to prepare for a deployment," said Chief Master Sgt. Gregory Fenger, 325th MXG superintendent. "These actions ensure the aircraft systems are healthy enough to fully perform their mission when the aircraft arrives in the area of responsibility."

It also takes many hours of manpower to get these jets and maintainers to a deployed location.

"There are a lot of behind-the-scenes actions as well as the activity on the flightline," said Col. Jacqueline Mongeon, 325th MXG commander. "The entire base supports our efforts to ensure our equipment and spare parts, as well as our people, are in the best condition to ensure when we arrive at a deployed location, everything is in working order to support the mission."

The exercise not only tested the ability of the 325th MXG to deploy, but it gave a pertinent time to learn and iron out details to smooth the process in the future.

"The exercise helped us gain proficiency in our processes as well as identified areas for improvement and innovation" said Mongeon. "We will continue to build on this foundation to make more improvements and challenge ourselves in the future."

The aspirations for improvement and moving forward runs deep within the 325th MXG.

"Any time you exercise you learn ways you could do things better," said Banks. "We have learned a couple ways we can fine-tune our processes and increase communication both before and during the exercise."

The 325th MXG is now looking toward to the future.

"Our next challenge is to take all the lessons learned from previous experiences and what we learn during this exercise, and build a process that works best for Team Tyndall," said Fenger. "Our maintainers are flexible and have the talent to do amazing things."

The exercise would not have been a success without the people of the 325th MXG.

"Everyone's outstanding attitude and desire to excel set the tone for a highly successful week and we thank them for their hard work and tremendous effort now and every day," said Mongeon. "The 325th MXG recognizes the many units throughout the base that support us and our families every day. Thanks to their outstanding efforts, we can concentrate on the mission at hand."