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Travis Airman cares for Air Force's largest air refueler

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  History shows Airman 1st Class Brian Welch's hometown of Yorktown, Va., as being most famous as the site of the surrender of British Gen. Charles Cornwallis to Gen. George Washington on Oct. 19, 1781. It was the event, history states, which essentially brought about end of the Revolutionary War.

Airman Welch said he is proud of his hometown's history, and of his family's history of serving in the military.

"I'm a third-generation military member so it's in our family's blood to serve," said Airman Welch, who is a KC-10 Extender crew chief with the 380th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Extender aircraft maintenance unit at a non-disclosed base in Southwest Asia. "My dad was in the Air Force for 27 years too so I always knew this is what I was going to do."

Before every KC-10 Extender launch, 380th EAMXS Airmen like Airman Welch make sure the more than 180-foor-long tanker and airlifter is ready to go. As a crew chief, he makes sure the whole aircraft he's assigned to is cared for every day. He's required to know "everything there is to know about the jet."

The official Air Force job description for a crew chief states that maintainers like Airman Welch advise on problems maintaining, servicing and inspecting aircraft and they use technical data to diagnose and solve maintenance problems on aircraft systems. Crew chiefs also troubleshoot and maintain aircraft structures, systems, components and support equipment. They also supervise and perform aircraft and component inspections and interpret inspection findings and determine adequacy of corrective actions.

Furthermore, in his job, Airman Welch inspects and checks components for clearances, tolerances, proper installation and operation and inspects and operates powered and non-powered aerospace ground equipment, identifies aircraft corrosion for prevention and correction, and reviews maintenance forms, aircraft records and reports to ensure complete documentation.

Airman Welch's work is among several maintenance specialties who maintain the KC-10 for deployed operations. There are KC-10 crew chiefs and Airmen specializing in instrument and flight control maintenance, communications and navigation, hydraulics, aerospace propulsion, fuels, electrical and environmental systems and aero repair.

Airman Welch said his work with the KC-10 is important to overall mission success.

"It's up to us, the maintainers, to get these jets off the ground and on to their missions in working order every time," said Airman Welch, who is deployed from the 660th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Travis Air Force Base, Calif. "We know the plane would not be able to fly without us."

Overall, Airman Welch's support for the KC-10 mission with the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing leads to effective support in forward deployed areas such as Afghanistan. For example, in 2009, KC-10's from the 380th AEW and the 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron flew 4,760 combat sorties off-loading more than 422 million pounds of fuel to more than 31,000 aircraft. In the same year, the KC-10s and their crews accumulated more than 40,000 hours of flight time.

In a way, Airman Welch said he is kind of like his hometown - he's being a part of history.

"I love being out here on deployment because I know I am helping save lives," Airman Welch said. "It's important to me and all the maintainers that we launch each KC-10 mission on time because every second counts in supporting the combat troops in those forward areas. If that's helping make history -- that's an added bonus."

The 380th EAMXS is a sub-unit of the 380th AEW. The wing is home to the KC-10 Extender, U-2 Dragon Lady, E-3 Sentry and RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft. The wing is comprised of four groups and 12 squadrons and the wing's deployed mission includes air refueling, surveillance and reconnaissance in support of overseas contingency operations in Southwest Asia. The 380th AEW supports operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom and the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.