1st SOMXG celebrates great year

  • Published
  • By Jamie Haig
  • 1st SOW Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. --  The 1st Special Operations Maintenance Group held their annual maintenance bash April 13 in Freedom Hangar, and this year, two of their Airmen were Air Force-level award recipients.

Maj. Abigail Ruscetta, 1st Special Operations Component Maintenance Squadron, won the 2006 Gen. Lew Allen Jr., trophy, and Tech. Sgt. Matthew Poole, 1st Special Operations Helicopter Maintenance Squadron, was the 2006 Lt. Gen. Leo Marquez recipient for technician supervisor of munitions.

"I think what we're doing here day in and day out is phenomenal," said Col. Socrates Greene, 1st SOMXG commander. "We're not only supporting the Global War on Terrorism, but we're training and conducting test missions as well."

In the past five years that the U.S. has been at war, the 1st SOMXG has not left the battlefield once.

"We're working in a battlefield environment on aircraft that are, on average, older than the maintainer," Colonel Greene said. "The average age of our aircraft is 30 years old, and the average age of our maintainers is 18-24 years old."

The aircraft are also complex; no two are the same. Add into the mix a hostile environment and bad weather, and things could get tough.

This is why the 1st SOMXG makes sure their Airmen are taken care of.

More than 50 percent of the maintenance group is Airmen who joined the Air Force after Sept. 11, 2001. The colonel understands they're young, but willing to learn.

When not deployed, the 1st SOMXG has a rigid training schedule. Colonel Greene is serious about keeping his Airmen prepared to handle anything at home or deployed.

"You cannot buy active-duty experience," the colonel said. "People respond when they know you care."

The Airmen of the 1st SOMXG feel strongly about their mission and work environment.

"I thought the overall 'excellent' rating on last year's operational readiness inspection was definitely a major success," Sergeant Poole said. "The camaraderie between the deployed personnel was the best I've ever seen in my career."

Senior Airman Nate Webster, 1st Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, and his coworkers agreed with that opinion.

"There is no question that we work around the clock to make sure planes fly. This ranges from workers in the 1st Special Operations Equipment Maintenance Squadron all the way to the 1st SOAMXS, who are actually launching the planes," Airman Webster said. "When we deploy, we work at least 12 hour shifts, seven days a week for our whole deployment. We must know our jobs up and down because people's lives are affected by our actions."

Other 1st SOAMXS Airmen agreed that maintenance is a 24-hour operation.

They work hard and train hard with little recognition, but add that's just their job.

Despite the intense operation schedule, training at home to prepare them for war, the test missions on modified aircraft and the age of the fleet - the 1st SOMXG has good reason to celebrate.