MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- Editor’s note: “We are The 908th” is a 16 part series, running biweekly, detailing the workings of the various units in the 908th Airlift Wing. This is part seven, giving insight on the 908th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron.
The 908th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron is the first line of maintenance support for the 908th Airlift Wing’s nine C-130s. The squadron is under the command umbrella of the 908th Maintenance Group.
Commanded by Lt. Col. Michael Allen, the squadron’s mission is to, “develop Airmen, manage the fleet, and deliver the sortie.” Their vision is to, “be the best trained and equipped C-130 unit in the Air Force.”
According to Allen, “the 908th AMXS’s priority is to provide safe, reliable, combat mission capable aircraft to the 908th Operations Group.”
In order to accomplish all of this, the squadron takes its 125 members, 33 of which are full-timers and 92 being traditional reservists, and divides them into two different sections including the airframe, propulsion and general section, and the specialist section.
“The APG section is made up of crew chiefs who are responsible for the day to day upkeep of our 9 assigned aircraft,” explained Allen. “They perform duties to include refueling, changing tires, rigging the aircraft for the scheduled mission, and working hand in hand with the flight crew during the aircraft preflight as well as launch and recovery of the aircraft.”
“The specialist section is a combination of maintainers from various specialty codes to include propulsion, electrical and environmental systems, guidance and control systems, communication and navigation systems, and hydraulics,” explained Allen. “These maintainers specialize in their own specific areas of the aircraft systems and subsystems. Specialists provide in-depth knowledge and troubleshooting skills for their respective systems.”
The squadron has had quite a few recent accomplishments, but according to Allen, arguably the major accomplishments for 2021 are, “answering the nations call by generating a mission ready aircraft to replace a damaged aircraft deployed in a very constrained timeframe as well as supporting the prepping and deploying of more than 70 members.”
That’s all for the 908th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, the next part of “We are The 908th,” will focus on the 908th Maintenance Squadron.