Maintainers keep ACB aircraft in the fight

Photo By Rick Emert | Spc. Andrew Koplin makes repairs to an AH-64D Apache June 11 at Taji, Iraq. Koplin, from Delta Company, 4th Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, is part of the maintenance team that keeps Apaches damaged in battle flying over Baghdad.  

TAJI, IRAQ

06.19.2007

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Rick Emert 

1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs

CAMP TAJI, Iraq – If the Soldiers from Delta Company , 4th "Guns" Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, have anything to say about it, a battle damaged aircraft may be down temporarily, but it won't be out of the fight forever.

The Soldiers of Co. D are about 93 percent complete with a battle damaged Apache that required extensive repairs.

The Apache that they set out to repair had holes in the frame which also caused damage to the windows, wiring and rotors, said Capt. Randy James, commander of Co. D.

"It ... required all three levels of maintenance up to the depot level," said James, a native of Slidell, La. "We decided to do it here because my guys are that good. We got approval to do the repairs here."

The other levels of maintenance are unit-level maintenance, which the company-level maintainers can perform; and interim-level maintenance, which would normally be performed by Soldiers and contractors from the 615th Aviation Support Battalion, 1st ACB. Company D had Soldiers on hand with the training and experience to conduct repairs at those higher levels, James said.

The first task was to strip the aircraft completely down to assess the damage underneath the frame and clear the way for the armament specialists to make needed repairs, said Staff Sgt. Sean Higgs, an Apache mechanic.

"I've never seen an Apache more stripped down – other than at the Boeing plant," said Higgs, who hails from Shavertown, Pa.

The crews had to remove all of the weapons system components and inspect hundreds of wires, said Spc. Josh Rosenbaum, an armament specialist.

"This is the same kind of thing we would do for a 500-hour phase (maintenance)," said Rosenbaum, from Keller, Texas. "We would normally have to inspect everything and then put it back together like brand new."

Finally, the aircraft had to be put back together and is now in the inspection phase.

In all, the Co. D maintainers have put about 1,800 man hours into the Apache repairs, all the while continuing with their normal maintenance mission.

"The other maintenance that these guys do has not slowed down at all," James said. "In fact, it has sped up because of the surge. More flying means more maintenance. They have been able to accomplish this by being even more focused – they have not had to increase the hours they work."

Along with focus, the Soldiers had to dig deep for the confidence to conduct such a mission.

"A lot of guys might have shied away from doing this, because this level of maintenance is not taught at the schoolhouse," said Portland, Ore., native Spc. Andrew Koplin, an aircraft structure repairman. "For some Soldiers, this was outside their normal (military occupational specialty) skills. A lot of us did on-the-job training to get this done."

Although they didn't realize it at the onset, the mission would become a great training event for the crews.

"My main focus in this was to train the guys on stuff they had never done before," said Sgt. Kevin Koch, a squad leader and Apache mechanic, who calls St.
Cloud, Fla., home.

"You learn a small percentage of what you will do here from the schoolhouse," Higgs added. "The rest you learn from OJT. It falls on the people who have done it before to make sure that newer Soldiers learn how to do this."

Throughout the mission the Soldiers gained new skills and gelled as a team, and most importantly, worked to keep one of their aircraft in the fight.

• Date Taken: 06.19.2007
• Date Posted: 06.19.2007 13:28
• Story ID: 10901
• Location: TAJI, IQ