Page 3 - Nellis AFB Bullseye 9-25-15

BULLSEYE
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Detachment 13 offers resources for aircraft maintenance training
By Airman 1st Class Rachel Loftis
99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. —
An Air Education and Training Com-
mand detachment with approximately
35 instructors across 15 Air Force Spe-
cialty codes, is Nellis and Creech AFBs’
primary technical training source for
aircraft maintenance training.
Providing specialized advanced train-
ing, Detachment 13, 372nd Training
Squadron, based out of Sheppard Air
Force Base, Texas, supports three wings
across Nellis and Creech AFBs; however,
that does not include the various tempo-
rary duty assignments instructors go on
or the many TDY students that travel to
Det. 13 for classes.
“Our primary mission is quite large,”
said First name Richardson, Det. 13,
372nd TRS propulsions system instruc-
tor. “We help Air Force wide. We have
instructors that go TDY to Japan or Eu-
rope and just teach. We also train other
instructors at different bases so they can
provide the training there as well.
“We teach Airmen in detail to give
them a better understanding of what
they are going to do in the real world,
whereas technical school teaches just the
basics,” said Richardson. “Think of tech
school as you are building with Legos.
POW/MIA, from page 1_________
Short added that the day was not just
a day to honor former POWs and those
MIA, but to acknowledge that the U.S. is
still a nation at war and that more Ameri- to the nation during their time spent as POWs.
cans may still be captured by our nation’s
enemies or potentially become MIA.
“Every American service member
still missing or unaccounted, is still a
part of this nation — entwined in our
history — forever united by the same
oath to the Constitution that every Air-
men, Soldier, Sailor, Marine, and Coast
Guardsman swear to protect,” said Short.
“They exhibited honor, they upheld their
sworn code-of-conduct, and today we
honor their memory and remember their
loyalty and sacrifice.”
Short also highlighted notable cases
of service members who were MIA
for years, but were eventually brought
home. He mentioned that despite the
many years it took to bring them home,
America never forgot.
On April 13, 1945, 2nd Lt. John Herb
from Cleveland was assigned to the 368th
Fighter Squadron as a P-51D Mustang
pilot.
“His aircraft sustained damage while
strafing German aircraft on the ground.
During Lieutenant Herb’s attempted
landing in an open field southeast
of Hamburg, Germany, his aircraft
crashed,” said Short. “His wingman
reported seeing the wreckage burning
News
You are taught that this Lego can fit on
this Lego, but here we’re giving you the
entire picture and the blueprints on how
to build things.”
Class sizes at Detachment 13 range
from one to eight students, allowing in-
structors to provide individualized and
focused training. Classes at the detach-
ment also account for a part of upgrade
training for incoming and experienced
Airmen in aircraft maintenance career
fields.
“I am an electrical environmental
system specialist and my first base was
McGuire AFB, (New Jersey) where I
worked on C-141’s in the back shop,” said
Senior Master Sgt. Kenneth Kramer, Det.
13, 372nd TRS chief. “Well, I received
orders to Misawa Air Base, Japan to work
on F-16s. I got there, I got processed in
and I start getting a general knowledge
of the airframe. Electrical is electrical
but the systems are different, so I went
to a (field training detachment) and they
taught me more specifics and how things
specifically worked for that airframe.”
Det. 13 doesn’t just teach classes, they specialized courses that are opened to
assist in creating them as well.
“AETC creates courses to teach Air-
men the skills they need,” said Richard-
son. “Well we have the F-35 and that’s
pretty new. We actually have instructors
that are very hands on with making
Former prisoners of war and their families watch the events of the Prisoners of War/
Missing in Action Recognition Ceremony at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Sept. 18. During
the ceremony, Airmen of Nellis AFB honored these men for their commitment and service
in the field. Herb was reported killed in
action and his remains were not recov-
ered during the war.
“In June 2014, a Department of De-
fense team working east of Hamburg,
interviewed several locals who recalled a
U.S. aircraft striking a tree and burning.
The locals also reported that the pilot
was severely injured in the crash and had
3September 25, 2015
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corrections and upgrades and we’ll get teach how to train their dogs and you
courses down and the instructors will have medical personnel that teach how
make their corrections based on their to administer shots. Everybody teaches
input.” something and if you want to be really
good at it we offer a course that is two-
According to Richardson, the detach- weeks long where we teach you how to
ment is an all-inclusive unit. speak in public, create lesson plans, cre-
ate a class for your career field, and it’s
“We don’t have any other agencies offered pretty much every month with a
coming in and doing our additional du- max of 10 students.
ties, we all do it here,” said Richardson.
“We have additional things that we are “We also teach our PAE guys, so the
required to maintain. So for me, I am the ones that work in the back shop if we have
production supervisor here so I do all the a class built and we have extra seats we’ll
scheduling of the classes and managing open it up to them too, we’re not under
the instructor’s time as far as that goes. contract to supply them with training but
it helps them out too which also helps the
“For a regular class like I am teach- base. So were very generous, we’ll train
ing right now; for the first few days it is anybody.”
pretty standard across the board in the
classroom. We’ll teach you theory of Det. 13 is the second busiest training
operation, component identification, and detachment, instructing over 90 courses
basic information and then we’ll go into across eight air frames every year.
the engine bay or out on the flightline
and we’ll do hands on. So we give you a “The diversity here makes this de-
well-rounded experience here.” tachment unique,” said Kramer. “Most
bases will have one or two airframes, so
On top of all the maintenance train- Misawa AB has F-16s that’s it, so their
ing Det. 13 offers, they also offer other detachment is seven or eight people.
I just came from Joint Base McGuire-
the base populace. Dix-Lakehurst so I know they have two
airframes, C-17s and KC10s. This is the
“So one of the courses that we have largest as far as airframes goes because
is Principles of Instruction,” said Rich- our detachment covers eight airframes.
ardson. “We’re not the only ones on base I think there are detachments out there
who teach. We teach college-level courses that are larger in size but not diversity.”
and Airmen are getting credits for it, but
other people teach things. Security forces
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Siuta B. Ika Herb was buried on June 18, 2015, in
Arlington National Cemetery with full
military honors. Approximately 70 years
after leaving to fight for freedom, Herb
was finally home.
“I take this time to tell you these sto-
been shot by a German soldier who re- ries because it’s not about the statistics,
moved him from the wreckage,” he said. the number missing, or even the number
“His remains were later buried near the recovered,” said Short. “It’s about the in-
crash site. The DoD team excavated the dividuals. It’s about the individual stories
suspected burial site, recovering remains of courage and sacrifice, and of families
and aircraft wreckage. Herb’s remains who did not give up hope. It’s about a
were identified using DNA evidence and nation that does not forget.”
dental comparisons which matched his
records.” During the remembrance ceremony,
Air Force Junior ROTC cadets from
Rancho High School placed white dai-
sies on the wreathe while the names of
deceased POWs and those still MIA were
read aloud.
After the reading of the names, the
Nellis AFB Honor Guard performed a
21-gun salute.
The area was quiet as the “missing
man” formation flew over the ceremony.
The missing man formation is an aerial
salute to those that have paid the ultimate
sacrifice. A position in the formation is
vacant to represent that one person is
missing, just like so many of the nation’s
heroes that have gone missing in the fight
for America’s freedom.
The ceremony concluded with Short
thanking everyone in attendance and
reminding them that all the POWs and
those still MIA or unaccounted for, are
not forgotten.