Airmen teach Afghans the art of maintaining

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Oshawn Jefferson
  • U.S. Central Command Air Forces
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  Being a mentor takes a lot of patience, time and the ability to relate to others on a personal level - and sometimes it requires maintaining a Russian MI-17 helicopter.

For the men and women of the 738th Air Expeditionary Advisory Group's aircraft maintenance section, one three-week course is all that's needed for Airmen to learn how to maintain a foreign airframe and use their new knowledge and Air Force job skills to mentor Afghan national army air corps soldiers at one of the busiest single-runway airports in the world.

"We have had to overcome language barriers, working with an unfamiliar airframe and cultural differences to give our ANAAC soldiers the best training possible," said Master Sgt. John Anderson, 738th AEAG lead maintenance superintendant advisor, deployed from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas. "We have worked hard and the ANAAC soldiers have shown a lot of the dedication to what we are teaching them. We have come a long way and I must say the future looks bright."

The 14-man aircraft maintenance advisor team from nine different career fields mentor ANAAC soldiers in safety, aircraft marshaling, pre- and post-flight inspections, debriefings, cleaning aircraft and tool accountability. During the past 20 months Airmen at the 738th said ANAAC soldiers have made great strides.

"When we first got out here ANAAC soldiers would work on the flight-line with nothing but sandals on, clean the helicopters with fuel [which is what the Russian technical order called for] while smoking, and tools would come up missing or not be placed in their proper storage unit all the time," said Tech. Sgt. John Ellis, 738th AEAG maintenance advisor, deployed from Seymour-Johnson AFB, N.C. "We have been teaching them standards that will empower them to, one day, maintain an Afghan aircraft fleet of their own. Also, we taught them to use simple green and other cleaning items instead of fuel to wash aircraft."

With 40 ANAAC maintenance soldiers in the fold, 738th AEAG Airmen are hoping to increase ANAAC's man power to 110 by the end of the year. According to Sergeant Anderson, this would be a huge step in heading toward a lofty goal.

"Short term we hope to have a 362-man ANAAC maintenance group at Kandahar," said Sergeant Anderson, a native of Springfield, Ill. "That would be enough soldiers to maintain a fleet of aircraft and allow the Afghans to move to a bigger dream."

That dream, if fulfilled, will result in ANAAC soldiers maintaining aircraft for an independent Afghan air force. A goal Afghan and U.S. Air Force officials hope to be well on their way to by the end of the year.

"Our mentors are the best in the world," said Maj. Abdul Rahman, ANAAC maintenance supervisor. "They have taught us so many things, they have gone from being mentors to being our family, they have shown they have a goal to help make us great maintainers for our future air force and I know if we keep working we will make it to that goal."

While building an independent Afghan air force is a long-term goal, for one maintenance advisor, being a part of this bright future at the ground level has been a rewarding experience.

"The relationships I have built with these ANAAC Soldiers are ones I will cherish the rest of my life," said Tech. Sgt. Jeff Baker, 738th AEAG maintenance advisor, deployed from Barksdale AFB, La. "Helping build up these Afghan maintainers from the ground up will be something that will always fill me with a sense of pride. One day these guys will maintain aircraft for their own air force and I can say I played a part in that."