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Maintainers, special operations troops team up, innovate training

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Chelsea E. FitzPatrick
  • 127th Wing

ALPENA, MI -- Conversation abruptly stopped as ten Air National Guardsmen looked skyward while two A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft dropped simulated bombs and fired Gatling guns with a familiar, “BRRT,” at the Grayling Air Gunnery Range on May 21, 2024. The Airmen, members of the 127th Wing’s agile combat employment, or “ACE,” team, and representing a variety of aircraft maintenance career fields, were at the range practicing advanced fieldcraft skills with members of the 284th Air Support Operations Squadron, Kansas Air National Guard.

“A maintainer loading weapons or fixing hydraulics on an airplane, they’re not necessarily getting the full picture,” Master Sgt. Joshua Eby, weapons section chief with the 127th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron and an ACE Team lead, said. “But when you’re actually out here on the range, you can see all of that work going into the aircraft to get them into the air, to get the pilot in contact with joint tactical air controllers; I think it’s extremely valuable.”

On October 1, 2022, the Air Force updated training requirements for all Airmen to ensure they can survive and operate anywhere required in today’s contingency environment. For members of the ACE Team this “ready airman training” opened up new opportunities by offering, “advance ready training” in combat field skills. In 2023, the 421st Combat Training Squadron at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, announced new course offerings in several field skills proficiency levels, replacing the outdated, “just-in-time,” model.

“We’re required to have a certain percentage of Airmen certified in both ART "core" and ART "contingency location," or CL coursework,” Eby said. “The training here in Alpena is covering topics we didn’t learn at Ft. Dix and also introducing core skills to Airmen who haven’t yet been to the schoolhouse.”

The ART core is a five-day class that trains Airmen who will work outside established bases in skills such as weapons sustainment and caring for casualties under fire. The ARTCL course includes core skills, with more specialized field skills like emergency close air support and high-threat driving. CL is designed for Airmen who will travel further forward to austere contingency locations, many lacking infrastructures, in support of ACE operations.

“Our ACE Team is leading the charge as far as I’m concerned, and from what I have heard from other units around the United States,” Eby said.

The ACE team was in the right place at the right time when they were housed with tactical air control party personnel assigned to the Kansas Air National Guard’s 284th Air Support Operations Squadro during a recent exercise.

“When we were in Avon Park, Florida for Agile Rage 2024, we met the 284th ASOS and asked them if we could send our personnel to the range with them,” Eby said.” When they saw how motivated we were, down to the lowest rank, they started to invite us on other training opportunities.”

TACPs operate in joint combat environments, embedding with troops on the ground to coordinate close-air support with pilots directly, leading them to enemy targets. Once 284th ASOS TACPs learned about the ACE Team’s mission, they knew they wanted to help augment the ART requirements that ACE Team members didn’t get at the schoolhouse.

Tech. Sgt. Jesse Drehos, a TACP with the 284th ASOS, said the relationship is highly beneficial for both groups.

“They are the personnel that work on the aircraft we use,” Drehos said. “They’re very motivated, and if that’s the mentality they have, you want to be around that because it motivates us too.”

Tech. Sgt. Ethan Van Dam, an ACE Team member and repair and reclamation specialist assigned to the 127th Maintenance Squadron, said the training he’s received from the 284th ASOS is extremely valuable because it has helped create realistic scenarios that prepared him for what they may encounter downrange.

“It’s made us see the situations we may encounter and better prepared us,” Van Dam said. “This is, by far, the best training I’ve ever had in the Air Force.”

For the 127th Wing’s ACE Team, the partnership with the 284th ASOS is yet another level of innovation they have integrated into their training program and ensures they have the necessary ART skills.. Over the past three years, the team has made history receiving and launching A-10s on domestic highways in Wyoming and two Michigan locations. They also travelled to Germany and Latvia last year to train with key state partners in the eastern European area of responsibility.

At home, the ACE Team integrated with the Army by getting Humvee driving certified and loaded their equipment in and then travelled in CH-47 Chinooks, simulating troop movements to contingency locations. Last month, they partnered with the 127th Security Forces Squadron to familiarize themselves in weapons they don’t generally train on.

For the ACE Team, learning and growing together has made them a stronger unit and more prepared to execute their priority mission: maintaining and launching the A-10.

“I absolutely love the guys I work with, we all want to be here,” Van Dam said. “That’s the most you could ask from a group of 20 guys coming together


U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Cody Trevino, right, a tactical air control party specialist with the 284th Air Support Operations Squadron, Kansas Air National Guard, familiarizes members of the 127th Maintenance Group’s agile combat employment team, Michigan Air National Guard, with how to call in an emergency close air support request when under fire, at the Grayling Air Gunnery Range, Rogers, Michigan, May 20, 2024. Servicemembers not specialized in calling in airstrikes use ECAS in emergency scenarios when under enemy fire and they need a capable aircraft to respond. 

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Ethan Vandam, center, a repair and reclamation specialist with the 127th Maintenance Group, Michigan Air National Guard, along with other members of the agile combat employment team, practices finding locations on a map at the Grayling Air Gunnery Range, Rogers, Michigan, May 20, 2024. The ACE team worked with tactical air control party specialists assigned the 284th Air Support Operations Squadron, Kansas Air National Guard, to training requirements for launching A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft from contingency locations.

Members of the 127th Maintenance Group’s agile combat employment team, Michigan Air National Guard, observe A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft practice airstrikes at the Grayling Air Gunnery Range, Rogers, Michigan, May 20, 2024. Comprised of Airmen from all career fields responsible for the care and upkeep of the A-10, the ACE team worked with tactical air control party specialists assigned the 284th Air Support Operations Squadron, Kansas Air National Guard, to learn skills for launching A-10s from contingency locations.

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Teddy Johnston, an A-10 Thunderbolt II crew chief with the 127th Maintenance Group, Michigan Air National Guard, practices giving a convoy brief to other members of the agile combat employment team, and 284th Air Support Operations Squadron, Kansas Air National Guard, at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center, Alpena, Michigan, May 20, 2024. The ACE team worked with tactical air control party specialists assigned the 284th ASOS to augment training requirements for launching A-10s from austere and contingency locations.

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Juliann Hammer, an A-10 Thunderbolt II crew chief with the 127th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Michigan National Guard, disassembles an M-249 light machine gun at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan, May 15, 2024. Members of the 127th Security Forces Squadron familiarized a small group of maintainers with the M-249 as part of Air Force training requirements and to prepare them to operate outside the wire, in contested environments. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Munnaf Joarder)

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Austin Brown, right, a defender assigned to the 127th Security Forces Squadron, Michigan National Guard, familiarizes Sr. Master Sgt. Adam Dittenber, left, an airframe, powerplant general section chief, 127th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, with an M-249 light machine gun at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan, May 15, 2024. The Air Force requires a certain percentage of maintainers like Dittenber, to cross train in skills not customary for Airmen, preparing them to be more agile in mission scenarios outside a secure airfield.
U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Joshua Eby, the weapons section chief with the 127th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Michigan National Guard, removes a bolt from an M-249 light machine gun at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan, May 15, 2024. Members of the 127th Security Forces Squadron familiarized a small group of maintainers with the M-249 as part of Air Force training requirements and to prepare them to operate outside the wire, in contested environments.		  

 
 

 

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