Photo By Senior Airman Parker McCauley | A team of Airmen from the 509th Munitions Squadron and the 131st Maintenance Squadron...... read more read more
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Munitions Airmen from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, competed to represent Global Strike Command in the Air Force Combat Operations Competition (AFCOCOMP) in May 2019 at Beale Air Force Base, California.
The team of 10 Airmen came from various shops across Whiteman’s 509th Munitions Squadron and 131st Maintenance Squadron Munitions Flight, for a Total Force Integration (TFI) of active-duty and Guard personnel.
The team spent several weeks practicing before being evaluated by AFGSC.
Maj. Allison M. Barkalow, commander of the 509th MUNS, highlighted the participating Airmen.
"Our TFI team is motivated, dedicated and excited for the opportunity to represent Air Force Global Strike Command at the premier Air Force-level AMMO competition," said Barkalow. "We've selected the best AMMO troops from throughout the squadron. They've come together as a team and are ready for the next level. I'm incredibly proud of each of them!"
2019 is the second year for AFCOCOMP, which gives munitions Airmen a unique experience with its emphasis on speed, integration between shops and friendly competition with others across the career field.
Qualifying
“They do a qualifying round, which is what we’re practicing for and then if we qualify we’ll end up going to Beale Air Force Base in California for a week,” said Master Sgt. Kristi Johnson, the Munitions Operations section chief with the 509th MUNS.
Throughout the qualification round, the Airmen practiced assembling bombs using training munitions with no explosive filler and trailers within the conventional maintenance shop. The two primary builds were six BDU-50s, which simulate the Mk 82 500-pound bomb, and four BDU-56s, which simulate the Mk 84 2000-pound bomb.
“We’ve been practicing for the last two weeks to improve on our speed and accuracy of completing the build from start to finish,” said Johnson. “Those are two main components they will be looking at when they come out here for the qualification round.”
Throughout the first couple weeks of practice, the team was able to cut in half the time that it took to do the builds, while also maintaining a focus on safety.
“It’s pretty cool.” said Airman 1st Class Rodger Hokanson, a munitions systems technician with the 509th MUNS. “It’s a chance to really gauge your skill level and see where you’re at with your job knowledge and things like that.You know, we build this stuff every day, but building for speed and consistency is really fun. Normally we don’t practice speed, so it’s a different take on the job that we do every day.”
He continued with more information on the day-to-day aspects of the build.
“As a crew chief, you have to know your technical data for bomb builds so you have to be familiar with that,” said Hokanson. “It entails knowledge of the different components, what goes into the build, knowing your team, how to set them up for success and just a lot of it comes with practice, the more you do it, you get better.”
A total force endeavor
Tech. Sgt. Mitchell DeLouche, a conventional maintenance crew chief with the 131st MXS munitions flightemphasized the cohesion between the Guard and active-duty Airmen at Whiteman.
“It's a pretty big honor but it's kind of just how we operate here,” said DeLouche. “It's not really out of the norm, we work hand in hand with the 509th every day.”
Airmen from outside of conventional maintenance came from the storage, inspections and accountability to fulfill not only their primary jobs but also to assist in the build process.
“It's been a good experience so far,” said DeLouche. “Everybody’s been motivated and very willing to learn new skills and I always enjoy teaching younger Airmen.”
Hokanson highlighted the capabilities of the rest of the team and his leadership.
“The biggest thing is we all work in different parts of the bomb dump, but if you take a team of people and put them under good leadership and you teach them well, then anyone can do this quickly and efficiently,” said Hokanson.
Representing Whiteman
If they qualify with AFGSC, the team will be able to represent Whiteman at the Air Force level.
“Hopefully we can go to California and make Whiteman proud and show them the part that we do take in the mission and how key it is,” he said.
| Date Taken: | 02.22.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 02.25.2019 09:42 |
| Story ID: | 311842 |
| Location: | WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, MISSOURI, US |
| Web Views: | 133 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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