Fly, fix, fight.
As part of the Michigan Air National Guard’s 127th Wing drill weekend, Airmen flew and fixed aircraft to ready for the fight at Selfridge Air National Guard Base Jan. 9-11, 2026.
Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach, Air Force Chief of Staff, laid out the “Fly, Fix, Fight” motto to Airmen in his first message to the force Nov. 3, 2025, outlining his leadership priorities.
“Our shared purpose is simple and enduring: to fly and fix so we are ready to fight. At our core, we fly and fix aircraft. It is the heart of who we are and what we do,” Wilsbach said. “Every Airman, no matter their specialty, contributes to the generation of airpower to support the joint fight. From the flightline to the cockpit, from logistics to networks, every part of our Air Force delivers combat power. Together we afford our Nation the ability to deter aggression and when necessary, to fight and win.”
Over the weekend, KC-135 Stratotanker and A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft flew. Scores of maintainers fixed aircraft and, at a medical “rodeo,” upwards of 900 Airmen verified they were up-to-date with routine medical requirements, ensuring they continue to be qualified for duty. On Jan. 10 alone, a dozen A-10s launched from the base to take part in a training exercise at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona and five KC-135 Stratotankers took off, participating in a variety of missions and training sorties.
Meanwhile, in a KC-135 hangar, a trio of junior Airmen worked on fixing a hydraulics actuator on the port side wing of one of the large refueling aircraft. It is the small things that allow the larger mission to happen.
“This was written up as a problem, a small hydraulics leak and we want to get this aircraft back into service,” said Staff Sgt. Charles Travis, who works in the hydraulics shop of the 191st Maintenance Squadron. The 191st Airmen are the “Fix” part of the equation.
On a chilly Saturday, with a little snow flying outside, Senior Airman Lucas Bulac and Airman 1st Class Cameron White worked inside a hangar on the KC-135, troubleshooting the problem and fixing the aircraft – getting it ready to fly and, if necessary, to contribute to the fight.
Bulac and White are both traditional members of the Michigan Air National Guard, serving generally about one weekend per month and a couple of weeks of active duty per year. When not in uniform, Bulac is a full-time student at Oakland University, where he is studying criminal justice. White works in the food service industry and is planning to return to school himself. Travis, who was supervising Bulac and White, serves full-time at Selfridge.
Bulac has been with the Michigan Air National Guard for about three years, White for two. Travis served as an F-15 Eagle maintainer in the active-duty Air Force before joining the Michigan ANG several years ago.
“I like working on the aircraft because it is always something challenging, something you put your hands on, but you also have to use your brain to figure out,” Bulac said.
Bulac and White are both in skills upgrade training, so the small write-up on the KC-135 provided an opportunity for them to hone their own skills, while also performing a needed “Fix” on an aircraft.
“This is a core task for them and it gets this aircraft back in the fight,” Travis said.
For White, the larger part of the task was obvious.
“This is the mission today: fix this problem, so we are ready to go. It is as simple as that,” he said.