Airmen win weapons crew test with zero defects

  • Published
  • By Luke Waack
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Third Wing F-22 Raptor weapons crews at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson competed in the 3rd Wing's quarterly load competition Oct. 21.

The 90th Aircraft Maintenance Unit and the 525th Aircraft Maintenance Unit competed for bragging rights at "Fighter Town," home to the 525th Fighter Squadron.
Tech. Sgt. Kimmie Samuel, of Kirbyville, Texas, Airman 1st Class Caleb Hill of Shawnee, Okla., and Airman 1st Class Wesley Beversdorf, of Yuma, Ariz., represented the 90th Aircraft Maintenance Unit and came out on top with zero defects found in their loading procedures.

Samuel's team won load crew of the quarter earlier this year and will compete for crew of the year as well.

It took two things to win, according to Samuel, "Will power and perfect practice."

The load competition is a regular event in which Airmen can train to increase their speed and efficiency while loading missiles and bombs onto the F-22, which has to be done according to specific Technical Orders, as quickly as possible.

"We, as a load crew, are constantly competing for Load Crew of the Month," Hill said. "We won the month of September, and proceeded to win the Load Crew of the Quarter for the 90th in the 3rd quarter, then beat the 525 AMU's for Load Crew of the Quarter."

The competition was judged by 3rd Wing Weapons Standardization evaluators - experienced, objective Airmen - who make sure the loading is done properly, by the book, according to Chief Master Sgt. Steve Bohannon, 3rd Wing command chief.

Fighter Town is a state-of-the-art, multi-million dollar aircraft maintenance facility which was completed recently and is home to a brand new weapons load trainer.
This was the first quarterly competition at Fighter Town, and last year's competition was canceled because the 525th FS was deployed. A weapons load team is typically composed of a load team chief and two junior Airmen.

For air-to-air combat, the Raptor carries six AIM-120, Advanced Medium-Range Air to Air Missiles and two AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles. In the air-to-ground configuration the aircraft can carry two 1,000-pound GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munitions and load crews have to properly load them so they are effective in combat.

"Inspectors tally how many discrepancies they find and whoever has the best score wins," Bohannon said.

Teams prepared diligently for the competition, Bohannon said.

"We spent many nights practice loading outside in the cold and staying late many nights to make sure that we could get the practice in that we needed to ensure that we would succeed in this load competition," Beversdorf said.

Armament Airmen carry the Air Force Specialty Code 2w1, and are assigned to each F-22 aircraft maintenance unit.

"In addition to loading the weapons on the airplane the load team members had to take a written exam beforehand and they were subject to a (AFI 36) 2903 dress and appearance inspection," Bohannon said.

The competition was difficult, Bohannon said, and so was getting the chance to compete.

"They're selected among their peers as the best of the best within the (AMU)," Bohannon said. "There's a very high level of team work and cooperation because there has to be, to be able to move that quickly around an aircraft and load weapons and do it by the book."

Airmen competed intensely, Bohannon said.

"They wanted nothing more than to win this competition," he continued. "It is amazing how quickly they can work and still follow all their TOs and do everything by the book."
"The last load competition was won by the 525th (Fighter) Squadron, which made the determination even greater for us to win back the Load Crew of the Quarter Plaque," Beversdorf said.