Photo By Tech. Sgt. Joshua Arends | U.S. Air Force Airmen representing the 35th and 80th Aircraft Maintenance Units prep...... read more read more
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KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea – Weapons load crews from the 8th Maintenance Group represented the 35th and 80th Aircraft Maintenance Units to compete in the Weapons Load Crew of the Year Competition held at Kunsan Air Base, Jan. 25.
Two teams, with three members each, raced against each other loading training bombs, missiles and munitions on their respective F-16 Fighting Falcons while trying to minimize discrepancies in their own processes.
"We practice against each other to get better and better and better," said Col. Andrew “Phoenix” Huntoon, 8th Maintenance Group commander. "And today, it came down to one discrepancy because of that."
This year, the 35th AMU pulled ahead the defending champions by 50 points and emerged victorious after just one discrepancy was found in the 80th AMU’s loading process.
According to Master Sgt. George Lopez, 8th MXG weapons standardization superintendent, a zero discrepancy performance during a weapons load competition is extremely rare but this time, the 35th AMU showed it was possible.
“It was a close race,” Lopez said. “You can tell they take pride in what they do, and they are 100 percent weapons professionals out there.”
After having load crews from both AMU’s compete over four quarters in 2019, this competition tested the two most proficient teams against each other within the 8th MXG.
For the 35th AMU team, led by SSgt David Torres, 35th AMU load crew team chief, this competition was an opportunity for redemption after previously losing to an 80th AMU team in the 4th quarter load competition 22 days prior.
“It feels good!” said Torres. “We had one more chance and we won the title back.”
| Date Taken: | 01.25.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 01.30.2020 02:59 |
| Story ID: | 360940 |
| Location: | GUNSAN CITY, KR |
| Web Views: | 78 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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