Page 3 - Nellis Creech NTTR Bullseye 4-15-16

BULLSEYE
www.aerotechnews.com/nellisafb
CHALLENGES, from page 1 _____
AFSCs, to include crew chiefs, weap-
ons loaders, propulsion maintainers,
avionics specialists, electro, envi-
ronmental specialists, and supply
personnel,” said Gilbert. “I ensure
that our maintainers are given good
direction and priorities daily, while
simultaneously ensuring they have the
right tools to be successful. We meet
in the morning to go over the current
status and priorities, as well as the
flying schedule, inspection results,
and any other pertinent information
for the day.”
After her morning meetings, she
heads to the 57th Wing to brief the
unit’s status to leadership, and up-
channel any unmet requirements or
struggles they are facing.
“Leadership will advise me of any
concerns or issues they foresee, and
will help us with any problems we can-
not solve at a lower level.” said Gilbert.
“For the rest of the day, I figure out
ways to make the unit and mainte-
nance better than its current state.”
Due to the schedule constantly
changing, fast paced work environ-
ment, as well as the aircraft breaking;
analyzing and fixing issues is a time-
consuming and constant task.
“I am here to help my maintainers,
so I do all kinds of tasks, from creating
flyable schedules, to pushing depots
to get our parts and equipment fixed,
to planning morale events, to crafting
retirement speeches.” said Gilbert.
As the OIC, Gilbert is in charge of
the aircraft maintenance unit. She is
entrusted with managing aircraft and
leading the personnel who take care of
them. If anything goes wrong within
the unit, she is responsible, which is
a great responsibility in and of itself.
Gilbert stated that she greatly relies
on the senior NCOs to carry out the mis-
sion, as they are experts in their fields.
For Gilbert, her favorite thing about
her job as OIC, is participating and
witnessing aircraft launches.
“Even though it isn’t my job, it al-
lows me to see how my maintainers
are doing and just makes me happy.
We have the coolest job on base, and I
AWARD, from page 1 __________
The Air Force Outstanding Large
Security Forces Unit Award recognizes
the unit’s accomplishments and mission
performance reflecting high degree of
credit to the Air Force.
“Security forces is made of so many
smaller parts that it’s hard to see what
we do until you put it all together, and
once you see it, you’ll understand it’s
significance.” said Tech. Sgt. Christo-
pher Hinds, 99th SFS kennel master.
The 99th SFS has a multifaceted
mission, to include flight-line Security,
Police Services, Military Working Dog
Feature
Capt. Madison Gilbert, 757th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, officer in charge, stands in front of F-15E Strike Eagle on the Nellis Air
Force Base, flight line, March 31. As the OIC, she is responsible for 16, F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft and 170 maintainers.
love to see them working hard to put
sorties in the air.”
Gilbert has been at Nellis AFB for
four years. She has held many job titles
in her time such as aircraft mainte-
nance field training commander, F-22
AMU OIC, F-35 AMU OIC, and now
the F-15E AMU OIC.
“Captain Gilbert is professional yet
personable and the atmosphere she
creates is one of teamwork and trans-
parency,” said Maj. Heather Wooten,
757th AMXS commander. “She is a
transformational leader. She becomes
the type of leader her organization
needs her to be.”
Gilbert stated, she works in a male-
dominated career field, but profes-
sionalism and excellence in the Air
Force surpass any disadvantage that
minorities experience.
program, Antiterrorism and force pro-
tection, among others.
“Basically the award is broken down
into large, medium, and small unit
types,” said Staff Sgt. Corey Terrell, 99th
SFS base defense operations center con-
troller. “Of all the large units, we have
proven to be the best one, which gives
us an enormous sense of pride.”
“Given this is the second time the
Air Force recognizes our unit in the
last three years, it shows we continu-
ally manage to do great things,” said
Zarrella.
“Our leadership is very engaged”
said Zarrella. “They truly exemplifies
“I may have to ‘prove’ myself more
in the beginning,” said Gilbert. “But,
that never changes the way I do my
job. It only changes the perspectives
and thoughts of others.
“Additionally, I never know what to
expect each day. A lot of my job is re-
actionary to whatever the maintainer’s
need, so it is hard to prepare for some
of the issues. Flexibility is key.”
Gilbert attributes her confidence
and challenging of the status quo at-
titude to her parents.
“My dad was a pool contractor and
my mom was a computer programmer,”
said Gilbert. ”I volunteered at a hospi-
tal for five years, working in the hos-
pice, oncology, and maternity wards.
My parents instilled in me a confidence
that has allowed me to do the right
thing in tough situations. They have
mission commitment. They work hard
toward maintaining an adaptive and
mission-ready force though discipline
and by establishing high standards for
our Airmen.”
Along with the guidance from their
leadership, the 99th SFS also attributes
the award to the quality of their train-
ing, dedicated Airmen and exploring
innovative ideas to enhance integrated
base defense.
“There’s a lot of Airmen that do a
lot of remarkable work on day-to-day
operations,” said Flynn. “I like the flight porting the foundation of airpower and
I work on, and I enjoy coming to work
because I feel it’s a great environment.
3April 15, 2016
Facebook.com/NellisBullseye
U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Kevin Tanenbaum
encouraged me to put others before
myself through their example.”
In High School, Gilbert partici-
pated in JROTC. She enjoyed the
leadership and structure found in the
program.
“The Chief Master Sgt. assigned to
our unit encouraged me to apply to
the Air Force Academy. I didn’t know
what I was getting myself in to, but I
wanted to try it out,” said Gilbert.” I
attended the Academy and have loved
being in the Air Force ever since.”
Gilbert will soon be moving to
Randolph Air Force Base this summer
to work on assignment with Air Force
Personnel Center. However, until then
she will continue to be inspired by
watching her maintainers grow as well
as seeing them lead and come up with
brilliant ideas.
Everyone is knowledgeable, and we stick
together like family.”
“Part of our unit’s success is our Air-
men’s sense of pride and comradery”,
said Zarrella.
“We take pride in being the best
squadron,” said Airman 1st Class Kris-
tin Hatcher, 99th SFS Security Forces
Leader.
Through their actions and accom-
plishments, the 99th SFS demonstrated
they are leaders when it comes to sup-
their commitment to, as captured in
their motto, “Protect, Defend and Fight
… HUA!”