My second part in an unknown length of a series of posts that I chose to write on my 14th anniversary here in Charleston. I left off last time at the end of 1997 after I just arrived. 1998 was not a landmark year in the respect that exciting things happened. In reality, it was more or less the most boring year I was here, if I remember correctly. I graduated tech school at some point early in the year, and I was assigned to the Home Station Check (HSC) section of the 437th Equipment Maintenance Squadron (EMS). HSC is a calendar inspection on the C-17 (and other aircraft, such as the C-5, etc). Calendar meaning that the inspection interval is based on days elapsed versus time elapsed – such as hours in flight in an aircraft’s case. It’s difficult to measure the ‘miles’ on a jet, so time is used. For example, engines are based on operating hours – every 5000 hours an engine may require a certain kind of inspection. For the jet, it’s 120 days between each HSC. Within the overall HSC program, there are phases – and sometimes HSC may even be referred to as a ‘phase’ inspection. For the C-17, there were six phases, each increasing in intensity, and then resetting to phase 1 after the sixth one. Before each jet comes into the HSC hangar (or docks), it gets washed…which washes all the grease out of important things like the landing gear, control surfaces, etc. So a lot of each inspection is spent relubing parts of the aircraft. Fortunately this also allows you to inspect these parts, as things that require grease are things that move, and things that move wear out, and things that move are often important for that whole controlled flight thing. So, essentially, we greased, inspected, and repaired what we may have found broken (called a discrepancy in airplane mechanic speak – you learn something new (and useless) every day!)).
So most of 1998 was spent doing what the USAF paid me for. Approximately six months of this year I assigned to the CTK – consolidated tool kit. Basically the tool room…when a technician needed a screwdriver, they checked it out. You were not allowed to go to lunch, or go home unless your tools were turned in. You really didn’t want to leave a screw driver laying around in a jet intake or in some control mechanism…so accountability was important. No one likes CTK. It’
s boring. You sit there and just check shit in and out all night (I was on grave shift – 2330-0730). Unfortunately for me, I was the most junior and youngest person on our shift…sooo…go me.
During this year I joined the Ashely River Fire Department. Firefighting is awesome, and it was something to fill the time when I wasn’t at work. I learned a lot and met lots of people, some of which are friends to this day. As the year droned on I met some good friends, and I even think I bought my first boat this year. A 1989 Bayliner piece of shit bass boat. This thing was a pearl. I kid. It needed work. It ultimately was redecked and carpeted, and I reupholstered the seats.
I also bought my first new car, a 1999 Dodge Stratus. That was stupid. My first car ever was a 1988 Mazda 323. When I got here, the question was “Do you have air conditioning?” “No,” I would reply. “You best sell that thing and get something with a/c” was often the response. So I did. And boy was I glad. Summers here are gross. So I traded it in for a 1997 Plymouth Breeze. It was white. It had NO BALLS. Slowest car ever. So I traded it for its sister car, the Dodge Stratus. It looked nicer, and it had balls. Like…barely. But it went faster than the Breeze. Breeze…what the hell was I thinking? In any event, I hung onto the Stratus for several years. I look back and thing…damn…that Mazda was the last car I had paid off. I’m working on paying off the Trailblazer I have now. I could use the extra $461 a month!
Near the end of 1998, I got out of CTK and worked my shift. Eventually my affinity for all things computer (and the typing skill) landed me a position in the office doing data entry. You didn’t think the gay boy would REALLY stay around greasing aircraft if he didn’t have to, did you? Oh hell no. There was A/C in the office! Each shift had a ‘coordinator’ who was the person who was responsible for key entering in all the jobs in the computer. Basically, when a jet came in, a program was run in the old-ass GO81 (CAMS for Mobility) database software which would create jobs/tasks and load them against the jet in question. It would print out work tickets which the technicians would carry out with them and complete the tasks. These tickets had information on them, and I won’t get into detail, mainly because it bores me and it’s not essential to the story. Anyways, once the job was done, the technician (which used to be me) would sign off the job with the ‘corrective action’ – or work done – for the task. Basically each job was considered a discrepancy, of varying degrees (there were 3 levels – red X (a grounding condition), a red / (kind of bad condition, but not critical) and a red – which wasn’t anything huge). Working off memory, so I am sure that’s wrong in some level. But the jobs were signed off, and I would enter them in the computer, effectively ‘finishing’ the work on the jet. We also ordered parts and tracked training to an extent within the same system. You could even search aircraft tail numbers and see where they are assigned, and where they might even be in the world. GO81 was used to track the jet everywhere. I wonder if they still use it?
In 1999, I ended up putting in for, and being selected for an office job as flight training coordinator. In this job I managed all the recurring training, one-time training, and ancillary training for a flight of about 150-200 personnel. There was training that each person had to do to become qualified, and some you had to do to remain qualified. And then there were classes for upgrade training, and classes for specialty training. Training for this, training for that, training for training. I had to identify classes in need, and those who needed classes, and request and fill those slots through my contact at the squadron level. It was a nice office job for a little A1C (Airman 1st Class – E-4). I did this job for the very end of 1999 and most of 2000. It was in this job that I found out I could retrain..in effect change jobs.
Now, I liked maintenance. I love aircraft, and I have no doubt I could have done 20 (a lifer, in USAF terms) in this career field. But the Air Force is about airplanes and flying (and missiles, and satellites, and technology, etc), so I was thrilled to know I could go fly! Not as a pilot, since I was not a college graduate, but as an enlisted crew member. There were boom operators (the one who works the boom on the back of an air refueling tanker such as the KC-10 Extender) and loadmasters, who load the cargo and ensure it’s where it’s supposed to be. There were other positions, but these were the two I was interested in. I really wanted loadmaster, and really wanted to be assigned to the C-17, since its crew had this position. I networked, since I had an office job and little else to do, and ended up – once I put in for and was chosen for – retraining to loadmaster near the end of 2000. I initially signed up for four years in the USAF, but I had to extend my term an additional 23 months, so my contract ended on 28 Jun 2003 now, instead of the original 28 July 2001.
My squadron commander approved the orders, and if I remember correctly, the process began in October 2000. I was given orders for my first several classes. The first class was at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, TX. I have been there before, in fact, I spent my 19th birthday there in 1997 when I was going through basic technical school for maintenance. This time, I would spend my 22d birthday there. The classes I was going to SAFB were an undergrad aircrew course and a basic loadmaster course. These classes would last about 2-3 months. The undergrad course was designed to wash out the undeserving. It was very fast-paced and demanding as far as USAF courses were concerned. Lots of info, exams every day. Being prior-service, it wasn’t that difficult, as none of the information was really cosmic. For the new kids just out of basic training, they had to learn things I had already learned just by being in the USAF. Things like different aircraft, major commands, etc. Basically you learned it one day and were tested on it the next, if not the same day. There was something like a 60% attrition rate for this class. It was about 3-4 weeks long if I remember correctly. Our instruct was awesome, he would joke and fool around with the prior-service (those of us who were not coming right from basic training) and then turn and treat the new kids like the new kids should be treated. After the undergrad course was the basic loadmaster course, where they taught you the principles of how to manage and handle different cargo and the skill of ensuring the balancing of the jet. An unbalanced aircraft just won’t fly. If you think about it, flying is a delicate balancing acting among many forces…and they all must be just right for this miracle of flight to work. So in comes the loadmaster to ensure the center of gravity of the jet and its contents fall within the range that allows flight to happen. After these two courses, I had several more to go: water survival, land survival, and finally the main event – flight training.
Fun facts about this set of years – I was awarded the rank of Senior Airman (SrA) in June 200 at my 3 year mark. I had received, if I remember correctly, my first stripe at six months, and the second at 12 months. I would have to think back on this. I also moved out of the dorms on the AFB near the end of 2000 and into an apartment with a friend of mine – who I still value as one of my best friends to this day.
Essentially…. this wraps up this installment. In 2001 is when the fun begain!
