Dedicated civilians assist squadron, mission Published Sept. 4, 2007 By Maj. James Francis 6th Special Operations Squadron HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. -- There is a small group of dedicated civilian on base who generate aircraft at an exceptional rate. Charles Frazier and his team of professional aircraft mechanics, electricians and logistics support personnel are a group of men and women from L3 Communications Inc. who provide maintenance support for the 6th Special Operations Squadron. They keep the 6th Special Operations Squadron aircraft flying with a greater than 90 percent sortie rate. These aircraft include MC-130Es, UH-1H/UH-1N Hueys, the Casa 212, a Russian built Antonov-26 cargo aircraft and MI-17 helicopter. The team, called a joint operations group, started in 1997 with five crew chiefs and two Hueys, it has grown to 35 people. While the 6th SOS has also grown, Mr. Frazier feels that it's the chemistry between the maintenance personnel and the aircrew that has enabled the success of both units. "The 6th SOS aircrews are very receptive to the mechanics' inputs," said Mayra Garcia, a MI-17 aircraft mechanic. "They will return to the flight line to find out what the problem was with an aircraft and even help troubleshoot." Stephen Stover began his career as a Sikorsky H-19 helicopter crew chief in 1965 and started working for the JOG in 1997. "I enjoy the complexities and challenges of the different non-standard aircraft," said Mr. Stover. Due to the exceptional support from the JOG, the 6th SOS was able to increase the number of aircraft on the ramp, tripling the work load for the maintainers, with no decrease in sortie success rate. The JOG has earned recognition in many different forms. In the spring of 2006, they received recognition from the Special Operations Support Agency during the annual Government Flight Representative Safety Audit for four consecutive years of accident-free maintenance, which resulted in an L3 Quality Award. "This is the most professional and competent maintenance team I've seen in 23 years of service," said Lt. Col. Dan Grillone, 6th SOS commander. "This is maintenance and operations working together flawlessly as one big team." The JOG received recognition in August 2006 for the exceptional transportation rigging the team performed for a disabled medical evacuation helicopter that was blocking traffic on Highway 98. "Their work relieved a traffic jam that went from Hurlburt Field to Pensacola and lasted six hours," said Lt. Col. Boden LeMay, 6th SOS director of operations. Most recently, the JOG won their company's annual Joint Operations Group Tribute to Excellence Award, more than 500 teams competed.