Ready, Set, Load!

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Rae Perry
  • 4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  In less than 30 minutes, a crew of three Airmen can arm munitions, load them safely onto an aircraft and still have plenty of time to sign off on technical orders, wipe down their tools and put them away in precise locations within a tool box.

The quarterly load crew competition was held here July 29, 2011, where teams of Airmen from the four Aircraft Maintenance Squadrons are pitted against one another to load inert munitions the quickest and with minimal mistakes. Airmen are shadowed by their very own competition evaluator who knows the order of specific tasks required to load munitions.

"The competition gives Airmen pride in what they do on a day-to-day basis and is something that is unique to this career field," said Staff Sgt. Katherine Adams, competition evaluator.

This quarter, the four squadrons competed in two separate heats. In the morning the 333rd Aircraft Maintenance Unit and the 334th AMU went head-to-head loading three GBU-39s, an AIM-9 and an AIM-120. The other squadrons, the 335th AMU and 336th AMU, loaded the same munitions in the afternoon.

After each heat, the six evaluators talked about what was done right as well as the errors each team made. Any error made resulted in an additional five seconds being added to the final time.

As in any competition, there can only be one winner, and this quarter, that title belongs to Staff Sgt. Darren Kressin, Airman 1st Class Jacob Edward and Airman 1st Class Anthony Duncan from the 334th AMU with a complete load time of 29:08.