Photo By Pfc. Gavin Kulczewski | U.S. Marine Corps Master Sgt. Allen Ravan, from South Carolina, a maintenance...... read more read more
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Sirens pierced through the walls of the C-130 Hercules aircraft that he rode, indicating that rockets were inbound somewhere on the installation. The aircraft was forced to conduct a “combat landing,” taking a steeper angle than usual to land to avoid enemy fires. The year was 2011, and U.S. Marine Sgt. Allen Ravan, a Charleston, South Carolina, native and an airframes mechanic with Marine Attack Squadron (VMA) 513, had just landed at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan.
“It was a pace I wasn’t ready for,” said now Master Sgt. Ravan.
High operational tempo and stressful conditions like this forged the beginning of Ravan’s career and have continued to impact how he leads today. Currently, Ravan is a Maintenance Assessment Team (MAT) inspector at 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. He uses this platform to encourage a culture of mentorship and learning prevention methods, rather than simply inspecting and directing Marines to meet standards.
“We’re obviously there to inspect [the squadron’s maintenance] processes,” said Ravan. “But we’re there to look at why their processes fail and see if we can provide better practices for them to implement and succeed.” Ravan puts his efforts into a people-first approach, opting to teach, mentor and instill lasting knowledge and confidence rather than quick and unsustainable results.
“The warrant says I’m a Master Sergeant of Marines, it doesn’t say I’m a Master Sergeant of only my unit.” said Ravan. “Your influence shouldn’t stop when you walk out of your own building.”
By answering the questions he knows and helping find answers for the ones he doesn’t, Ravan hopes to continue to establish a legacy of experience and pride in the next generations of Marines, especially as 2nd MAW transitions from the AV-8B Harrier II to the F-35 Lightning II. He began to build this legacy and leadership approach early on in his career as a maintainer.
Ravan began his Marine Corps career as an airframes mechanic and was first trained to work on Harrier aircraft. His first experience in a combat environment was at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan. By the time he arrived there, a steady operational pace required aircraft to be constantly loaded with ordinance and airborne. Then, environmental issues kicked the maintenance team’s steady operational pace to the next gear.
“The first engine failure was on takeoff,” said Ravan, “blades shot out of the exhaust nozzles and that’s when we knew we had a problem.”
Minerals and bacteria present in Afghanistan had caused foreign object debris issues and erosion in certain sections of the aircraft’s engines. With this issue, many in his detachment needed to be replaced. The operational pace skyrocketed; these aircraft needed to be airborne, and Ravan found himself working around the clock.
The challenges did not stop there. The squadron then experienced a critical shortage of shear bolts for the Harrier’s flap actuators, a mechanism used to adjust the flaps on an aircraft’s wings. Without these bolts, the squadron was at risk of damaging aircraft flaps and hydraulic actuators. Shipments were months out from being delivered, so Ravan took it upon himself to find a solution. He researched the specifications for the necessary bolts – their size, thread count, pitch, and shear force, and found an alternate bolt that could be used, saving valuable time for the squadron and mitigating potential damage to the squadron’s Harriers. Ravan credits his leaders for giving him the opportunity to put his critical thinking skills to use and keep the aircraft in the air.
The squadron persevered, in no small part due to Ravan’s efforts and critical thinking. This is when Ravan learned to appreciate the skillset and knowledge he had built around the Harrier and the personal legacy he had begun to develop. Because his had leaders challenged and empowered him to problem solve, he began to learn the value of a people-first leadership philosophy.
“Whatever the mission set was, we could react quickly to it and have aircraft overhead in whatever area of operation we needed,” said Ravan.
Following this deployment, when Raven departed VMA-513 and checked into VMA-231, he experienced a major change in operational tempo – but instead of letting his skillset languish, Ravan took the opportunity to step back from the busy day-to-day flight schedules to train and prepare for whatever came next. He was able to share the time and lessons he had from VMA-513, further spreading the proud legacy of maintainer knowledge and experience. The opportunities he received at VMA-231 gave him a new perspective on leadership and mentorship.
“Leadership philosophy should change,” said Ravan. “It shouldn’t be something rigid.”
He began to view things in a different light. When the operational pace was high in Afghanistan, it had been easy to grab a wrench and “go, go, go”. He was used to learning on the fly and trying to correct mistakes as they were made. But at VMA-513, Ravan learned to take a more thoughtful approach. At VMA-231, he could rely on his experiences at VMA-513, refine his approach to problem solving, and use his lessons learned to teach the next generation. Instead of continuing to turn the wrench, he handed it off to his junior Marines and gave them the opportunity to learn, think and problem solve, imparting his wisdom while giving them the chance to cultivate their own skillset.
Ravan brought this new approach to his next unit, VMA-542. They were one deployment away from their deactivation and transition to the F-35, and not everyone in the unit was going to deploy. Ravan took it upon himself to ensure that his Marines continued to put forth effort, day-in and day-out. He cultivated buy-in from his Marines by teaching them that even though the Harrier’s time at VMA-542 was coming to a close, the skills, discipline, and attention to detail that they learned through maintaining the Harrier could be transferred to other aircraft, or even other career paths within the Marine Corps. For Ravan, seeing the Harrier phase out is a somber experience, but according to him, the real tragedy would be seeing the lessons learned leave with the aircraft.
“We’ve been doing it for so long you can just hear differences,” said Ravan. “The tone of the aircraft changes… pay attention, listen, feel it.” This understanding and dedication to the Harrier is what Ravan seeks to cultivate across all Marine Corps aviation platforms.
Now, as a MAT inspector, Ravan has the opportunity to continuously interact with different platforms across the Wing - not just the Harrier. He uses the lessons he learned while working on Harriers to continue leading and mentoring within the Marine Corps’ aviation maintenance community. He uses an open door, people-first approach that has been refined since his time in Afghanistan.
By addressing problems before they progress and offering solutions in early stages, Ravan hopes to instill a lasting knowledge and pride in the next generation of all platforms. He plans to take those lessons he learned in Afghanistan and in multiple 2nd MAW squadrons – how to work hard to accomplish the mission, how to provide his Marines with the opportunity to think critically, and how to enable them to cultivate their skillsets – to his future role as the maintenance chief for Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 231, which will employ the F-35B.
For Ravan, the aircraft and the tools may change, as they have done so in the past, but he will continue to prioritize his Marines, reinforce attention to detail, and pass along lasting knowledge learned over a full career of challenging and rewarding experiences. He aims to provide opportunities for his Marines to confront challenges, develop critical thinking skills, and practice by learning, similar to the opportunities he was provided as a sergeant in Afghanistan. In this way, Ravan can be certain that his legacy will continue.
| Date Taken: | 05.05.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 05.06.2025 07:44 |
| Story ID: | 496983 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Hometown: | CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 7 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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