MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- Italian novelist and journalist Alberto Moravia once wrote, “war has become an affair of machines, and soldiers are little more than clever mechanics.”
Having lived from 1907 to 1990, Moravia witnessed a time where machines of war evolved from the U.S. Army Signal Corps acquiring a Wright Brothers Model A Flyer variant, to the use of stealth aircraft and reconnaissance satellites. All these warfighting machines and technologies do, in fact, require clever mechanics, as Moravia wrote.
Today, one of those mechanics is Tech. Sgt. Jordan Rowland, an aerospace ground equipment craftsman with the 908th Maintenance Squadron. In his job he performs scheduled and unscheduled maintenance on, and inspects, tests and determines serviceability of, aerospace ground equipment.
Rowland, an Alabama native, has been in the Air Force Reserve for five years and is following in the path of his brother and both his maternal and paternal grandfathers. He also saw the Air Force as a fast way to learn a vocation without having to go to college.
“I figured it was the easiest way to get a good job without going to college. I didn’t want to do a labor job like construction or landscaping like some of my friends were doing, so this was a better fit,” said Rowland.
In addition to aligning with his goals, his current position capitalized on Rowland’s natural mechanical inclination.
“That’s what brought me to this career field…the mechanical aspect of it,” said Rowland.
While he does enjoy his current full-time job as an Air Reserve Technician, Rowland has an entrepreneurial spirit and wants to one day start his own trucking company.
“I’ve got some friends and family in the transportation business, and they’re making good money,” said Rowland.
Rowland was recently recognized as Category II Civilian of the Quarter, for the first quarter of 2023.