944th Det. 1 hits maintenance milestone

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Barbara Plante
  • 944th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, ARIZONA --  For the first time a team of maintainers from the 944th Fighter Wing Detachment 1 Maintenance Squadron spent time during the June Unit Training Assembly providing hands-on maintenance and received training on the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
Working out of the 309th Aircraft Maintenance Unit and the 56th Equipment Maintenance Squadron's Munitions Flight, 20 Reserve maintainers worked on scheduled aircraft and equipment maintenance.

"We are doing the crawl, walk, run method to refamiliarize the maintainers with the flightline and ensure the maintenance we intended to do can actually be performed," said Chief Master Sgt. Scott Jongewaard, 944th FW Det. 1 superintendent.
Total Force Integration initiatives are on-going across the entire Air Force, and it could not be more evident right here. The detachment stood up at the base as a classic association with the 56th Fighter Wing in 2014, and their mission is to "Train combat-ready Airmen and provide mission-ready equipment."

In a classic association, the aircraft belong to the active-duty element while the Reserve individuals provide manpower and work side-by-side active-duty members to maintain the aircraft. The 56th Maintenance Group will be the organization with primary responsibility for mission accomplishment and will be assigned the majority of the primary physical resources (e.g. aircraft, weapon system equipment, weapon system support, and production facilities).

After spending time on active duty as an F-16 crew chief and working with the Guard on KC-135s, Senior Airman Brian Simmons, a traditional reservist with Det. 1, is grateful to be back.

"I love fighters; they are my bread and butter," he said. "Being a new unit can be chaotic, but the leadership has been awesome from the top down. The crawl, walk, run concept has made for a great transition."

This implementation of maintenance TFI combines the talent of active-duty and Reserve maintainers to impact the ability of fighter maintenance units to meet their full mission capable rate. There are currently 61 maintainers assigned to the 944th FW Det 1; that number will eventually level off at 131 reserve maintainers over the next three or four years.

"We are excited to provide additional experienced maintainers to help the 56th Fighter Wing conduct their maintenance and they have been great in accepting us as part of the team," said Major Karwin Weaver, 944th FW Det. 1 commander. "We are already well integrated into the 56th with eight full-time Air Reserve Technicians and that number will steadily increase over time."