Inactivation ceremony held for 100th MOS

  • Published
  • By Karen Abeyasekere
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  The 100th Maintenance Operations Squadron officially inactivated June 3, 2013, at RAF Mildenhall, England. After 11 years of operation, the 100th MOS ended its mission.

After originally starting as the 100th Logistics Support Squadron in February 1992, the squadron was redesignated as the 100th MOS in 2002. Its last mission as 100th MOS orchestrated the 100th Maintenance Group's production effort and coordinated wing resources in support of operations for the KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft at home and abroad.

Together, the eight flights within the 100th MOS directed maintenance training, analysis, quality assurance, and command and control activities. They also provided administrative and technical support for the group, deploying to support refueling operations worldwide.

Due to the lack of field-grade officers in the maintenance career field, and to free up "major" billets in the officer corps, the maintenance operations squadrons across the Air Force were inactivated and changed to flights, according to 1st Lt. Katherine Bronson, 100th Maintenance Group Maintenance Operations Flight commander, from Chillicothe, Ohio.

The former 100th MOS commander, Maj. Marc Albritton, addressed each flight within the squadron, highlighting their accomplishments and explaining how they had done it all with an ever-increasing operations tempo, new mission requirements and unprecedented challenges.

"You should be extremely proud of your accomplishments and I only wish I could be here to see what new heights you will attain in the future," Albritton said.

"To the men and women of the MOS, as we move forward and adjust the organization to the needs of our Air Force, the importance of your duty does not change - you are, and will remain, the hub of this maintenance group," he said.

Col. Joseph Rushlau, 100th Mission Support Group commander, also praised the squadron and outgoing commander. He reminisced how, as a young lieutenant in 1993, all the functions as deputy commander for maintenance staff were reorganized as logistics support squadrons.

Rushlau became commander of an LGS in 2002, before it became redesignated as MOS just months later.

"Now, 11 years later, I have the opportunity to help bring the squadron full circle to inactivation and return to group staff," he said. "We will case the guidon of the 100th MOS, but none of the tasks they are responsible for will go away.

"Instead, the squadron will live on as the maintenance operations flight and continue to complete the stellar work they have always accomplished," Rushlau said.