[img]I've been a USAF Crew Chief for about 12 years now, and was just given my "wings" as the lead KC-135 Flying Crew Chief (FCC) about 2 years ago (I was a B-1B guy before that).. It wasn't until just the other day over Afghanistan that I truly got complete fulfillment and appreciation of what I've been doing for the last 12 years. Below is the story.
After working for 15 hrs on some major repairs to make our KC-135 airworthy, we taxied and took off from Kyrgyzstan. Once airborne we transited to the refueling track and...waited...and listened...for about an hour...and then it began. Over the radio you could hear the beginnings of what was sounding like a pretty epic fight on the ground. The Forward Air Controller, with an alarming tone in his voice, was calling strike coordinates for a flight of F-15Es. They were providing cover for our Army/Marine guys on the ground. Over the next couple of minutes you could tell that the fighting on the ground was intensifying. The Forward Air Controller was yelling out target locations because the gunfire was making it hard for the F-15s to hear him. From our high perch, we could see some smoke coming from areas where the fight was going on. The F-15s informed the FAC that they were bingo fuel, and were climbing to refuel. The FAC informed them that they were the only thing keeping the enemy from over running their position. The F-15 lead opted to split his flight to maintain cover for the fight. We rondvued with the first few fighters about 2 min later to pass the needed fuel. The second/third group were right behind. All in all the battle lasted approximately 35 minutes. We suffered NO CASUALTIES on the ground this day. The FAC relayed this info to the F-15 flight and thanked them for staying through the whole thing. The fighter lead informed him that they would not have been there had it not been for the KC-135 orbiting high overhead. My Aircraft Commander then told them both that the Maintenance guys really made this day possible. In all my years of wrenching on jets, I have never felt like my efforts were so directly connected to the fight. Usually we quantify our efforts in generation rates/flight data. It was such a humbling experience to be there first hand, to see the fruits of my teams long hours.
