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Maintainers help Rivet Joint fly, intel operate, mission succeed

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Christian Michael
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  It's neither the appeal of being a pilot, nor the intrigue of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance that keeps the RC-135 Rivet Joint in the air, but by the hard work and dedication of skilled maintenance crews working round the clock to keep the mission on task and target.

Deployed from Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., members of the 55th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron serve as the 763rd Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Unit for the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing in Southwest Asia. The Rivet Joint program they support generates airpower for real-time collection, analysis and dissemination of signal intelligence to provide air dominance over the area of operations. None of that will happen, however, if these skilled technicians don't work together as an effective, efficient maintenance team.

"If the pilots decide to break something, we make sure it gets fixed and keep everything running as it's supposed to," said Senior Airman Brice Harris, aerospace propulsion technician. "We do a lot more than what we're perceived to do. The pilots fly the aircraft, the intel folks do their stuff, but without us, they're dead in the water."

Harris and his fellow crew technicians focus on keeping the aircraft flyable, enabling the flying and ISR mission by solving problems.

"We ensure the aircraft is maintained properly and ready to fly all the time," said Staff Sgt. Gary Smith, a nine-year crew chief and current expediter, who uses inspections to identify issues with unit aircraft before implementing repairs. "When it lands, we look over all the fasteners, tires, hydraulic accumulator systems used for flight controls, landing gear and fuel pumps, etc."

Attention to detail is paramount to a unit that has been deployed continuously for more than 8,000 days. They serve up to eight combatant commands each day, requiring the flight, intelligence and maintenance crews to operate at 100 percent at all times. The information those assets collect provide security to ground troops while providing them the needed information to take the fight to the enemy in any environment. The maintainers keep their record as high quality by staying ready to go each time an aircraft comes in for landing and ensuring regular maintenance is accomplished.

"Maintenance has a very short window to prepare each jet for the fight," said Master Sgt. Justin Rust,763rd EAMU section chief. "If the aircraft is not capable of performing its mission, the mission does not happen. We ensure we provide safe and mission-ready aircraft on a daily basis to provide direct support to the (air tasking order) to fight the war on terrorism, and we accomplish this task with a 96 percent success rate."

Rust said they can provide the needed support by keeping aircraft usable for training requirements and by keeping crew equipped for success in every environment.

"In a sense, we are always preparing for the big game," Rust said, "and being deployed is like being in the Super Bowl. We are the best of the best and each maintenance unit fills a vital role on the team to bring home the win."

That team is smaller than when back at home, and though the number of Rivet Joint-aircraft here is also smaller, the tempo is higher.

"We have less people, and even though we have less aircraft, we always know one's going to fly," Smith said. "So it's a constant."

Due to the unit's unique mission and sole airframe, the members of the 55th AMU deploy frequently to the AOR. This serves to build teamwork and develop them in their function.

"It's nice to actually have missions," Harris said, who is on his second deployment here. "As much as I like working on planes, I want it to actually mean something more than a pilot got to practice."

That sentiment is shared.

"I feel like we're actually accomplishing something that benefits somebody," Smith said, who is now on his sixth deployment, third here. "At home it's training, training, training. Here, every day, it's something. (It's the) possibility of changing the future of something."