Combat Phase Maintenance

‘Why are we getting a phase now?’ asked a Delta Company, 2-149th General Support Aviation Battalion (GSAB) Soldier during a maintenance sync meeting almost two months ago when the maintenance load was high and the morale uneasy.  A Phase consists of a group of overhauls, inspections, and replacements of major aircraft components.

After the meeting, that same Soldier delivered the news to his men with prideful skepticism so swaying that no one believed they’d actually have time to conduct a combat phase while supporting 24 hour maintenance operations.

If you ask that same skeptical Soldier today what he thinks about performing a combat phase his response would be, “oh yeah, we got it!”

That skeptical Soldier was me, 1LT Anthony Sims Jr., D Co. 2-149th GSAB Maintenance Platoon Leader, and this phase is my first rodeo. What I failed to realize and understand was that a group of motivated Soldiers can accomplish many things. After almost a year of faithfully carrying out our mission, D Co. has found its niche, its groove; rising to the task after a few memorable stumbles and all it took was a few good noncommissioned officers (NCOs).

The CH-47 Chinook and the UH-60 Blackhawk aircraft are great magnificent engineering wonders whose silhouettes, fully and unmistakably recognizable, have filled the skies here on post during the deployment. I’ve watched and flown in the aircraft, respecting and loving the rhythms of the blades as they chop through Iraqi air, putting my faith not in the aircraft as a whole, but in the sum of its parts.  It is the nuts and bolts that connect parts and pieces to one another allowing each vital component to fulfill its purpose, much like the young men and women in D Co.

Underneath the presence of the commander, the platoon leaders, and the warrant officers, are the NCOs. We tell them what we want accomplished and they execute. They have built and molded themselves into a cohesive machine, pumping out work orders and keeping aircraft in the air. A third of the way into the phase, each section sergeant has his men on task and on time. They take pride in the work like a personal project.

As mandated by the Army, this is the year of the NCO, the backbone of the Army and the workhorse for Delta Maintenance.

We will complete our mission to standard.

By 1LT Anthony Sims Jr.,
D Co. 2-149th Unit Public Affairs Representative
29 Mar., 2009