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13th AMU maintainers support Eager Lion 2014

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Brigitte N. Brantley
  • U.S. Air Forces Central Public Affairs
JORDAN --  No matter where they are in the world, maintainers from the 13th Aircraft Maintenance Unit have one goal: to keep F-16 Fighting Falcons in the air.

Based at Misawa Air Base, Japan, the unit will spend 18 days at an air base in northern Jordan participating in Exercise Eager Lion 2014, During that time, these Airmen must generate daily sorties that will fly alongside coalition partners.

"From a ground perspective, it's cool to know that the aircraft we produce go up there and perform at a very high level among other countries," said Airman 1st Class John J. Lace, an assistant dedicated crew chief with the 13th AMU. "We want to produce efficient aircraft that are sound from the moment we launch them to the moment we recover them. We want our aircraft to be the best - that's our goal."

Crew chiefs are just one of the many maintenance career fields that have a hand in making sure each fighter jet takes off smoothly. Also involved are Airmen from aerospace ground equipment, weapons, fuels systems, avionics and many others. Each one plays a particular role in generating sorties.

"Avionics exists so instead of just flying around, pilots are controlling a more advanced weapons platform," said Staff Sgt. Michael Scott, an avionics specialist with the 13th AMU. "If our job didn't exist, pilots wouldn't be able to see any targets, drop any bombs, fire any missiles, or expend any chaff and flare."

One unique aspect of supporting the exercise from a smaller base is that people are usually more willing to step outside of their set career fields to assist each other.

"Back at home station, like at many places, lines are drawn. People might say 'That's not my job,' or 'I'm not going to help you do that,'" said Chief Master Sgt. Kevin Kiner, the AMU's superintendent. "But when you deploy, the lines disappear and they get out there and help each other. Everybody works together because they want to get the mission done. It's great to see."

Annual exercises like this help the many participants strengthen their relationships on both personal and professional levels. One way to build those relationships is to share advice and equipment with maintainers from other U.S services and participating nations.

"We have some equipment the Jordanians don't have, and sometimes they come and ask us advice on a piece of equipment they've got," said Kiner. "It feels good that we can help them, but it actually goes both ways. They also have some things we don't have, so we ask them for help too and they are more than gracious to help us."

This type of relationship is one of the goals of Eager Lion: to allow participating nations to develop great partnerships throughout the region and across the world. When called upon by nations' leadership to meet common challenges, the infrastructure for success will be in place.