Knowledge is power: crew chief of the year passes torch to students

Published April 24, 2012
By Airman 1st Class Samuel Taylor
436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. -- More than 100 boots snapped together as the room was called to attention. Underneath a decommissioned C-5 Galaxy engine and encircled by fellow Airmen and NCOs stood Staff Sgt. Christopher Butler, one of the newest C-5 crew chief instructors with the 373rd Training Squadron. The eyes of Butler's students and coworkers were on him as two plaques were presented; one read, "Air Force Commendation Medal," the next read, "2011 Crew Chief of the Year, 436th Maintenance Group."

The room swelled with applause and shouts of "speech!" Butler smiled at the faces smiling back at him, and accepted the group's request - the roar subsided as he began to speak in a voice still hoarse from hours of classroom lectures. First came the "thank yous," to those who had helped him along his journey, then his attention turned towards the students.

"I want to thank you all for challenging me every day. When I look to the sky and see a C-5 in flight, I'll know that you put it there. You are the future."

By the end of his speech, a passerby might have confused who the ceremony was meant to reward: Butler or the students. But to those in attendance the answer was clear - with Butler onboard, it was a shared victory.

Years before his entrance into the Air Force, Butler was employed at a Louisianan shipyard, more concerned with "will it float?" than "will it fly?" Yet the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, prompted a career change.

"I knew a lot of people who lost jobs in the shipping industry because of the attacks and I was so upset that those people came into our country just to cause suffering," Butler said. "It hit me that all the comforts I had taken for granted were defended by the military and that I owed it to my country to give back. I wanted to take the fight back to the enemy."

And so Butler enlisted as a C-5 crew chief, graduating from the technical school at which he would go on to instruct. Never content to go through a day without learning something new, Butler developed working relationships with maintainers of different specializations, thereby expanding his total knowledge of the aircraft.

"[After graduating technical training,] I found that [what I had been taught] wasn't the only thing I wanted to learn. There was more stuff about this jet that drove a passion in me to excel in every place that I could," Butler said. "I was always asking, 'what more could I learn.' I began going outside my career field as a three-level to gain more knowledge, starting with the basics, like how to install an electrical component. Each picture expanded to another picture, and each gave me the drive to go even further."

The knowledge served him well. Before the Air Force agreed to purchase the C-5M Super Galaxy fleet, they had to be sure it was a sound investment. Therefore, a hand-picked team, consisting of Butler and 43 other C-5 specialists, was tasked to serve as the first C-5M Super Galaxy cadre in the Air Force.

"Our job was to get those aircrafts working to the best of their ability: to go through all the books to ensure they were correct, to check if the maintenance manuals fixed any problems that arose, and to test if it all worked together. We saw the plane from start to finish and fixed everything in between," Butler said. "We were told, 'make it fly, make it happen, make the Air Force want to buy it,' and we did that, in one try, while setting 44 world records in testing - it can't get better than that."

It was an astute instructor that recognized the experience Butler could offer to fellow maintainers and recommended that he become a teacher. Butler ran with this advice immediately and quickly found that teaching suited him.

"I started training all individuals around me before I even considered becoming an instructor here. I wanted to be their role model. I would always say to my Airmen, 'Let's learn something; let me teach you something,'" Butler said. "My passion comes from teaching about a system that I love. My gratification comes from seeing the reaction when an Airman learns something. My goal is to raise troops that will excel past me and teach me something I didn't know."

Now, Butler is one of the newest instructors at the Air Force's only technical school for C-5 crew chiefs. According to students and staff alike, he is a welcome addition.

Butler's energy and passion brings a level of enthusiasm to the job that one can't simply teach. It is contagious and positively affects the overall culture of the squadron, said 1st Lt. Parawee Euavijitearoon, commander of the 373rd TRS Detachment 3. Through his attitude and drive, he represents the future of C-5 crew chief instructors.

"Some [Airmen] tend to get down on the C-5, considering it to be more of a flying bus than an aircraft with special operations history. [Butler] has gone a long way to turn that around for the students here. He proves that it's a cool jet to work on," said Tech. Sgt. Patrick Hawkins, a maintenance quality assurance specialist with the 167th Maintenance Group, West Virginia Air National Guard.

With approximately three weeks of instructing experience under his belt, Butler has a long road ahead of him, and the expectations of student and staff members to meet. So as his chapter as a front-line crew chief comes to a close, his chapter as an Airmen charged with raising the next generation of C-5 crew chiefs begins.

Ten minutes after the ceremony's conclusion, Butler is back in his element: in his classroom among his students. He had traded his service dress for his Airman Battle Uniform, set his awards upon his desk, and readied his study materials. He turns to the expectant class, lesson plan in hand, and says "alright, now teach me something."