Page 4 - Luke AFB Thunderbolt, April 2019

April 2019 spotlight Thunderbolt
New SMSgts announced
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www.aerotechnews.com/lukeafb
http://www.luke.af.mil
The following master sergeants have been selected for senior master sergeant at Luke Air Force Base:
56th Fighter Wing
Colette Roe
56th Operations Support Squadron
Rebecca James
607th Air Control Squadron
David Moats
56th Maintenance Group
Maximillia Heredia and John Julian
56th Equipment
Maintenance
Squadron
James Byers
61st Aircraft Maintenance Unit
John Accurso
63rd AMU
Christopher Helenek
310th AMU
Nathaniel Hensley and Anthony Higuera
56th Civil Engineer Squadron
Erik Mena
56th Force Support Squadron
Breezy Hughes
56th Security Forces Squadron
Sean O’Sullivan and Todd Shumate
56th Logistics Readiness Squadron
Katrisha Bablington, Frederick Garcia and Aisha Wolfgang
19th Air Force
Joshua Vanderbeck
Story and photo by Staff Sgt. LAUSANNE KINDER
944th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
Staff Sgt. Andrew Martin, a Reserve Citizen Air- man crew chief assigned to the 944th Fighter Wing Aircraft Maintenance Squadron here, knew at the age of 5 he wanted to be a pilot.
“My grandfather got me one flying lesson per month starting when I was 13 and I wanted nothing else,” Martin said. “Back then I was flying a Piper Warrior.”
When he was 17, he visited his local recruiter and inquired about becoming an Air Force pilot. Told he would need a college degree first, he looked at other options that might eventually help him reach his ultimate goal.
“I looked through (the recruiter’s) big book of jobs and decided on crew chief because I figured working on airplanes would get me a job if I ever left the Air Force,” he said. “Also, I figured if I couldn’t fly them, it would be cool to maintain them every day.”
After finishing technical school in 2010, Martin was stationed at Luke with the active duty 308th Aircraft Maintenance Unit before a permanent change of as- signment to the 310th AMU in 2013.
Wherever he went, Martin never forgot about his dream of becoming an Air Force pilot and would ask
See PiLoT, Page 9
Staff Sgt. Andrew Martin, 944th Fight Wing crew chief, poses Jan. 29 for a photo with an F-35 Light- ning II at Luke Air Force Base. Martin is an Air Re- serve technician working out of the 61st Aircraft Maintenance Unit. On the civilian side, he is a certi- fied flight instructor with more than 600 flying hours.
F-35 maintainer on his way to becoming an F-35 pilot