Rock Solid Warrior: Senior Airman Andrew McLeod Published March 4, 2011 SOUTHWEST ASIA -- This week's 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Rock Solid Warrior comes from the 386th Expeditionary Maintenance Group Name: Senior Airman Andrew McLeod Unit: 386th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron Duty Title: Maintenance Operation Center Controller Home unit/station: 317th Maintenance Operations Squadron, Dyess Air Force Base, Texas How do you support the mission here? I am a maintenance operations controller, meaning that my duties include the tracking of scheduled and unscheduled maintenance for all aircraft assigned to this station. I am also constantly coordinating with other units such as the aerial transportation and operations center, the command post and other maintenance operation centers both here and at other locations to ensure flying and operations go as smooth as possible. How many times have you deployed and what makes this deployment unique? Technically, this is my fourth deployment in the last three years. I have been here for four months and I have extended for another four months. I have had the opportunity to work towards my bachelor's degree in electronic engineering and have been able to complete all but three credits for my CCAF through CLEPS and DANTES testing. How does your job differ in a deployed environment vs. home base? There aren't any big differences between my home station and here. We train to deploy at Dyess, with the expectation that we will deploy at least once every twelve to eighteen months. The scenery is different and we meet new people wherever we go, but the mission stays the same.