Wild Ducks fly east for spring training

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Ryan DeCamp
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Ducks may not have teeth, but try telling them they can't bite. The Air Force version of the Grapefruit league's best got to see what their Cactus League brothers had to offer on the Florida panhandle last week.

Almost 90 Airmen from the 309th Fighter Squadron and aircraft maintenance unit's Wild Ducks headed to Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., to help one of the base's fighter squadrons with training March 4 to 15.

"We were primarily out there to help support the 43rd FS, flying with and against the F-22s," said Capt. Patrick Kennedy, 309th FS weapons and tactics chief who, along with Capt. Jen Wade, 309th FS, organized the mission from the fighter squadron's side. "The majority of the missions were just showing them different presentations. We simulated enemy tactics. We also got to fight BFM with them, or basic fighter maneuvers - one on one dog fighting."

The Ducks brought eight F-16s with them and flew just shy of 100 flights. Kennedy had great things to say about the AMU that made the 96 sorties happen.

"The maintainers (309th AMU) were awesome down there and their support was unbelievable," he said. "From planning to the execution, they were top notch. The crew chiefs were hustling every day to launch all the jets. They were always there when we needed them."

The base recognized that effort prior to heading to Tyndall. The Wild Ducks' AMU falls under the 756th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron and earned the title of 'AMU of the Year' at the Maintenance Professional of the Year banquet March 3.

"The people who gained the most from the TDY were our supply and support Airmen, the people that bring all the tools and test equipment," said Master Sgt. Thomas Mraz, 309th AMU production superintendant. "For them, it's like a no-kidding deployment. They have to palletize all our test equipment, tool boxes and get it all weighed and loaded on the cargo jet."

He said the biggest change for the maintainers is working from a different location, but that the job stays the same regardless of where they are.

"It went pretty smooth, but the toughest thing about working in a deployed location, even though we're only in Florida, is getting the parts we need if we don't already have them," he said. "We did bring a pallet full of parts but we can only guess what we might need. Luckily for us, Eglin AFB is about 90 minutes away from Tyndall and the 62nd AMU has a little deployment there that's on-going in support of the F-35. We were able to go to them for items if we needed something."

Kennedy and Mraz both said that because of training requirements with student pilots and the daily maintenance schedules, the teams haven't had much opportunity to get away from Luke to support other training. On average, they said they get to go about once a year.

Other pilot and maintenance teams on Luke rotate to assist outside training like the work done in Florida throughout the year, so it's common for units from Luke to be seen at other bases helping squadrons train. Each unit however, doesn't get the opportunity often.

Mraz said Florida offered the AMU a chance to reward the team that makes the Ducks fly.

"We were able to get 19 Airmen incentive rides for the top performers in the AMU, logistics readiness, component and equipment maintenance, among others, so there were a lot of happy people," he said. "You learn all about what the pilot goes through up there. I did it a long time ago. It's the best rollercoaster ride you'll ever have. It is incentive to do the job well."