Fit to fly
Staff Sgt. Ben Beermann, 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron, Fabrication Flight, uses a rotary tool on a corner of a patch he created Sep. 1, 2008, at an undisclosed air base in Southwest Asia. Sergeant Beermann, grinds the corner, smoothing out the edge of the patch that will fix a crack in an E-8C Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) aircraft cowling. The non-flush patch provides structural integrity and keeps the elements out. He measured, cut, punched in rivet holes and then smoothed out all the rough edges before attaching the patch to the cowling. The JSTARS platform provides an airborne battle management, command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platform supporting Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom and Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa. Its primary mission is to provide theater ground and air commanders with ground surveillance to support attack operations and targeting that contributes to the delay, disruption and destruction of enemy forces. Sergeant Beermann, a native of Dakota City, Neb., is deployed from Robins Air Force Base, Ga. (U.S. Air Force Base photo by Tech. Sgt. Michael Boquette/Released)