State cell sets example Published April 9, 2010 By Tech. Sgt. Tammie Moore 4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. -- The latest operational readiness exercise here has brought another wave of exceptional 4th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron performers. "Thank you for the tremendous effort put forth for our recent ORE," said Col. Joe Diana, 4th Maintenance Group commander. "We had significant improvements over our February ORE. We now have four OREs left until the operational readiness inspection. If we show this magnitude of improvement for each, we will be on track to produce an Excellent or Outstanding rating for our ORI." The 4th MXG hosted an internal competition during the ORE between three F-15E Strike Eagle generation cells. Airmen filled positions in the cells based on their specialties, not based on prior team assignments, making this the first time each cell operated together. "Teamwork is the key to accomplish the mission of generating aircraft for a deployment," said 1st Lt. Jose Burgos, 333rd Aircraft Maintenance Unit production superintendent. "We had a good group of Airmen who were focused on getting the job done right the first time." In the spirit of March Madness, the cells took the names Duke, State and Carolina. For the competition, the cells received ratings in four areas. · The first cell to exceptional release all their jets was Carolina, followed by Duke · During inspections, Duke and State each had four jets pass quality assurance tests, while Carolina had three jets pass · The State and Carolina cells both launched five jets, while Duke launched four -- overall, the cells produced 14 jets that took off on time without any issue · The final stage of the competition was a knowledge test "The competition was fierce," Colonel Diana said. There was a tie between the three cells going into the final event. In the end, State beat out Duke and Carolina to capture the win. The 4th MXG plans to increase the span of their competition during the next ORE, June 7-9, to include Airmen processing the deployment line, cargo and those participating in aircraft regeneration. "Congratulations to the Airmen of the State cell," Colonel Diana said. "Myself and all the wing leaders are proud of your work and know that we will continue to get better." State cell included: Master Sgt. Brian Garcia Master Sgt. Joshua Leggett Staff Sgt. Kenneth Barker Staff Sgt. Edith Bartolomeo Staff Sgt. Phillip Bechtold Staff Sgt. Brandon Bellomy Staff Sgt. Phillip Bessen Staff Sgt. Billy Butler Staff Sgt. Wesley Coll Staff Sgt. Steven Hall Staff Sgt. Timothy Helley Staff Sgt. Shannon Herron Staff Sgt. Brandon Hickerson Staff Sgt. Douglas Mensen Staff Sgt. Bret McPeck Staff Sgt. Roberto Ramirez Staff Sgt. Carlos Santiago Staff Sgt. Matthew Tobey Staff Sgt. Sarah Vigil-Thompson Staff Sgt. Arthur Walters Staff Sgt. Chad Warner Staff Sgt. Brent Whitaker Senior Airman Ronald Dowling Senior Airman Joseph Evers Senior Airman Chad Hammett Senior Airman Kyle Hayden Senior Airman Erik Olson Senior Airman Matthew Weeks Senior Airman John Yates Airman 1st Class Aaron Buford Airman 1st Class Cory Campbell Airman 1st Class Christopher Davis Airman 1st Class Michael Davenport Airman 1st Class Nicholas Dryden Airman 1st Class Jeremy Fangman Airman 1st Class Eddie Hill Airman 1st Class Karl Jackson Airman 1st Class Stephen Koss Airman 1st Class Joshua Maynard Airman 1st Class Lawrence McGregor Airman 1st Class Jeffrey Melnik Airman 1st Class Anthony Ovechka Airman 1st Class Jake Paige Airman 1st Class Charles Priestley Airman 1st Class Charles Rodriguez Airman 1st Class Daniel Siems Airman 1st Class Ryan Smith Airman 1st Class Mark Spagel Airman 1st Class Donald Staser Airman 1st Class Anthony Urankar Airman Michael Prock