Little Rock NCO, Wisconsin native, helps coordinate maintenance operations at Iraq base

Published Oct. 13, 2010
By Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
Air Mobility Command Public Affairs

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Staff Sgt. Christopher Groom is a maintenance operations controller with the 332nd Expeditionary Maintenance Group Maintenance Operations Center at Joint Base Balad, Iraq.

Sergeant Groom is deployed from the 19th Maintenance Operations Squadron, 19th Airlift Wing, at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., and his hometown is Racine, Wisc. The 19th AW provides the Department of Defense with "the largest C-130 fleet in the world," according to the Little Rock AFB Web site. As part of AMC's Global Reach capability, the wing's tasking requirements range from supplying humanitarian airlift relief to victims of disasters, to airdropping supplies and troops into the heart of contingency operations in hostile areas.

At his deployed location supporting Operation New Dawn, Sergeant Groom is part of a team who, while working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, monitor and coordinate sortie production, maintenance production and execution of the flying and maintenance schedules while maintaining visibility of fleet health indicators for the 332nd AEW.

The MOC coordinates with maintenance units and communicates priorities for competing limited resources such as fuel or calibration docks, wash racks and dispatched specialists from the maintenance squadrons based on daily flying schedules and maintenance priorities, according to a report from Joint Base Balad Public Affairs. The exchange of information between squadrons and the MOC must be in sufficient detail to allow the MOC to comply with reporting requirements and to identify potential problems.

According to its base Web site, Joint Base Balad is home to the headquarters of the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing. JB Balad is located approximately 42 miles north of Baghdad in the Sunni Triangle region, which was considered the power base of Saddam Hussein.

The 332nd AEW is composed of nine groups including the 407th, 438th, 447th and 506th Air Expeditionary Groups, located respectively at Ali Base, Al-Asad Air Base, Sather Air Base and Kirkuk Regional Air Base. Of note, the 332nd AEW has been designated by U.S. Central Command as the senior airfield authority at all four of these air bases in addition to Balad.

Joint Base Balad also includes what was formerly Logistics Support Area Anaconda, the largest Army supply center in Iraq. The U.S. Army's 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command is responsible for operating the supply center.