Luke maintainer named 2009 AF crew chief of year

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Melanie Holochwost
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Staff Sgt. Damon Thurman, 56th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Quality Assurance inspector, won the 2009 Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Thomas N. Barnes Award which names the Air Force crew chief of the year. He will be formally recognized at the Air Force Association National Convention Sept. 13 in Washington, D. C.

"When Colonel Parkhurst told me I won during role call, I was in shock," said Sergeant Thurman. "Everyone was very excited for me."

Col. Geoff Parkhurst, 56th Maintenance Group commander, said this is a huge award.

"Luke has nearly 500 crew chiefs and Sergeant Thurman was named not only the best at Luke, but was named the best out of thousands of aircraft crew chiefs in the Air Force," Colonel Parkhurst said.

"Air Education and Training Command headquarters staff said it has been at least 25 years since an AETC crew chief won this award."

Sergeant Thurman said he has been in the Air Force for seven years and believes he won the award because of the abundance of opportunities he was given at the 61st Aircraft Maintenance Unit and previous assignments.

"Before Luke Air Force Base, I was stationed at Nellis AFB, Nev. and Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea," he said. "I learned a lot at those assignments, because I moved around and learned many different aspects of the maintenance career field. When I got to Luke, my supervision greatly appreciated my knowledge and experience, and I started winning awards."

Besides winning the Air Force Crew Chief of the Year award, Sergeant Thurman has won NCO of the month, NCO of the quarter, several dedicated crew chief of the month
awards and six consecutive best in show awards.

A Best in Show award is given to the crew that has the cleanest-looking aircraft each month.

Colonel Parkhurst said it is proud, self-driven maintainers like Sergeant Thurman that keep America's jets flying.

"He has repeatedly prevented serious aircraft mishaps by aggressively finding and fixing minor problems before they grew," he said. "He is also an excellent trainer and supervisor for his assistant crew chiefs. And, he scores a 100 percent on his physical fitness tests."

Master Sgt. Eric Wheeler, 61st AMU aircraft section NCO-incharge, said Sergeant Thurman consistently improved the unit.

"He led an aircraft team that identified and fixed more than 120 write-ups which led to an overall 'excellent' rating on the Unit Compliance Inspection," he said. "He trained
Airmen on engine bay inspections, which often fail, and increased the pass rate by 25 percent."

He is also a great leader and mentor, Sergeant Wheeler said.

"He devoted numerous hours after his scheduled shifts to help new Airmen prepare for their career development course tests and increased the pass rate to 100 percent," he said. "And, he directly supervised Airman 1st Class Sean MacGibbon, who had one of the highest CDC end of course exam scores."

Sergeant Thurman has always been a stand-out performer, Sergeant Wheeler said.

"He was one of our most knowledgeable maintainers and always the go-to guy with major maintenance issues," he said. "Anytime supervision needed a name of a sharp
NCO to critique a class or represent our unit, his name was the first that came to mind."