In 1967 (?) I was in the 516th TAWg at Dyess. We had all the engine troops in one branch, just like all the other specialists were in their respective branchs.
When the Flying Squadrons went TDY for 90 days they would come to the respective branchs for manning requirements of specialists. This became an administrative problem when you start moving whole Squadrons around the world, not knowing where they would really end up. This Wing was a real, "You call, We haul", type of unit.
To smooth the functions of world wide airlift support we broke the specialist into the 3 Flying Squadrons and left a 30 man shop in the Propulsion Branch. The Squadrons had full control of their assigned troops and could move at a moments notice. The big TDY's were still supported by a handful of add on personnel. That let just a few keep their mobility bags packed and usually every 90 days the list of TDY folks would rotate. Everyone had their shots and everyone took their turn at being "HOT" to go for a limited amount of time.
This worked fine for the time I was assigned to this Wing.
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620th MASSq MAC - We covered 24/7 all enroute maintenance requirements of transit MAC aircraft. The specialists assisted the various shredouts of Crew Chiefs (APG). The Avionics troops were assigned to the SAC shops as they were all drawing PRO-PAY and needed to keep up their skills.
This worked out fine for most folks. Sometimes you would get called in on another shift, or have to work over into another shift to fix a problem in your specialty. Wasn't really a problem unless you worked thru the Command requirement of not working 12 hours continuous.
I was a trainer for our 3-level Hydraulic troop. I learned as much as he did for that short time. We both assisted in repacking a C-124 strut. Of course I helped the "recip" engine guys to R/R "jugs", set magnitos , change exhaust stacks and check prop service. Add to the list of Fuel, O2 and LOX services to the broad range of cargo planes that we had to recover and prep for launch the next day and you became a "jack of all trades and a master of none".
Just as you got fully qualified in the year to 15 months you were shipped back to the "normal" air force and your Specialty.
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ADC - We were always told that when we reported to a plane with our work order in hand that the Crew Chief would have the panels down, open or removed for us to just step in and do our thing. haahahahaha!!!!!
Most times they were in progress of dropping the panels, sometimes they weren't in from helping launch or recover another Crew Chiefs bird. So we would whip out our speed handles and start removing the panels ourselves. We did this to prevent us from getting snarled up in any more overtime than we already had coming to us. You don't wait for help to arrive, it may never come.
The only Crew Chief to do this task day in day out was a guy who just made TSgt and had orders to SEA. Every time we reported to his bird, everything was ready for us. All the power equipment was in place and ready and he was standing by to assist. This guy was a joy to work with. One day my pal commented about this high level of help from him and he said, "Do you see the name on this plane? Its my plane, and its reflects on me and how I do my job every day." Needless to say every time we came to his plane , he got the very best from me every time. Its all part of being a team player.
The Crew Chiefs had these "yankee" screwdrivers to drop and install panels. My dad had one he used when he built cabinets. It had a ratchet design that you set the action to right or left hand twist and just pushed the handle in to turn the screws in or out. They could depanel in a hurry using this tool. We had been dropping our own panels for so long that one of the TSgt's asked for this tool to be put on our ECL. He was told this was a special add on for Crew Chiefs only. Plainly we weren't special enough.
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POMO is a coming.
20th TFWg - RAF Upper Heyford, UK - Just as I was getting "short" on my tour there, we had been told that POMO was on its way to the field and to start preparing to break out the flight line folks for moving to the Flying Squadrons. I was glad to be getting short and going to Homestead and the 31st TFWg. They had already made the conversion and I was going into EMSq.
I was looking forward to this move as the Equipment Maintenance Squadron (EMS) function for engine troops was mostly Phase Inspection work and all that job entails. When I arrived there the CRSq had stole me away from the EMSq. So I was being assigned to the JEIM section of the Propulsion Branch.
This was fine with me, one was as good as the other in terms of my "career" broadening plans. My time there was not too unlike my time in any other jet shop. We repaired, built engines and maintained a proper level of spare engines.
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81st TFWg - RAF Bentwaters / RAF Woodbridge, UK ---- By this time POMO was in full swing in USAFE. All the big growing pains were over and the business of flying air planes was all we thought about. I was assigned to the Component Repair Squadron Propulsion Branch. As with a few new assignments I sewed on a new stripe while enroute to the new job. So I show up as a MSgt and fill in as the Assistant NCOIC of the JEIM section. Sitting second seat lets a person learn the ropes at his own pace and delve into areas that could be improved when the learning is over with in that specific area.
I found that the technical problems were the easiest to cope with in the great scheme of things with general air craft maintenance. The most important phase of the job of Management and Supervision was the human element of the day to day work.
Lucky for me that I've always been a observer of the people around me in my life. After a time you predict what a person MAY do under routine circumstances. You can discover who can do training of others in a simple adequate pace and those who should never be allowed to deal with others unless they first are trained to do the training job. Many times I've found out folks who were faking the job and was getting by on their wits. Those were the first folks I scheduled for training classes.
Still with all this training, observing and close order drill of daily tasking a few times you will get surprised by some first time occurance of human behavior that rises up and bites a troop and you in the butt.
That is when your record keeping on each person came in handy with the folks above you. I started doing 90 day counseling on each of my crew chiefs and dock chiefs. Not that there anything wrong with them but when it came time to write that APR it was all right there in their personnel folder in my desk drawer. 3 counseling sheets with all the things they had done, both good and bad. All the schools, functions, outside envolvements, personal goals and goals achieved ready at my finger tips to write their own personal performance report.
I taught a lunch time APR class for my troops. It was a brown bag sit and learn type of thing. The young troops were interested in how their career was going to be judged. The junior NCO's were finally learning what all the rules and regulations were that governed their reporting on their troops. Even the dreaded "Referral" report.
NCO's that relied on their personal stash of "canned" APR's, copied over and over from one assignment to the next could be let go. The angst of writing the APR was gone for most. The guys who had problems writing were invited to ask me anything about the process. After this class with the guys in my shop, I noticed a shift on behaviors. Everyone seemed to be more calm, more easy going than usual. When the first wave of APR's went though the paperwork mills and were in the airman's records I recommended that they go up and see the final product. Most who had gone to my APR class went up and came back and were satisfied with their first year report. They knew that this report was theirs, not some guys from another base, another time and situation. They had earned that report, it was them and the NCO who wrote it cared enough to draw that word picture of the time spent with him or her.
Oh yeah, there one thing about that process being completed was that I didn't have to spent much time reviewing the rough drafts as I had before. I was doing massive edits and almost had to twist arms to get things done on time. The APR process was really smooth, efficient and just.
One note. We had a troop that was trouble from the get go. We eventually had enough bad behavior documented to warrant a bad conduct discharge. The young guy was discharged early.
A couple of years later I met up with a guy who was stationed in the northwest and had run across this same guy we had discharged for cause. However the guy had a different name and different rank and as soon as the guy was talked to he disappeared from the base. What was that about
? I thought back to the UK assignment and remembered that right after I had PCS'ed out that the whole Squadron had a massive PEE test and a bunch of guys and gals were ID'd as drug users.
Was this guy a OSI plant?
? I had heard of them at Tech School but had never seen them in the field. HUMMMMM !!!
Back in the '70s the Air Force played around with a concept called POMO. Don't remember what it stood for, but it involved cross-utlizing personnel between shops. Thus, as an MA-1 tech I found myself helping out on a fuel quantity problem. Don't know squat about the technicals other than they we're going after a fuel probe. Boy when they dropped that wing panel and the residual JP-4 and fumes came out it was all I could do to keep from losing my lunch. We were out ther no more than two hours, but it took me a day to get over the whoosiness from being around that stuff and another day just to get the smell out of my nose. After that I wanted no part of the fuel system on the Six or any other aircraft.
!!!
? I thought back to the UK assignment and remembered that right after I had PCS'ed out that the whole Squadron had a massive PEE test and a bunch of guys and gals were ID'd as drug users.
