ROYAL AIR FORCE MILDENHALL, England -- Teamwork, perseverance, and policy changes are what lead to the 100th Maintenance Group’s 100% mission readiness rating.
“Anytime, any moment, any place, we are lethal,” said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Gary Vidrine, 100th Maintenance Squadron product superintendent. "That's the big picture."
At RAF Mildenhall, the maintenance group comprises 25 different sections, totaling 527 mission-essential Airmen who were responsible for achieving a 100% mission readiness rating for the first time in a decade. These Airmen are key to keeping the KC-135 Stratotankers from the 100th Air Refueling Wing up and running.
“We are the single air refueling capability that exists in this theater,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Michael Blackford, 100th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron director of operations. “We serve Central Command, Africa Command, U.S. Air Forces in Europe, and the NATO. We are the only ones in front of the fighters, the bombers, and everyone conducting the combat mission. We are their combat support. They do their job, and we give them the range they need. That is what makes us mission critical.”
In coordination with the 100th Mission Support Group and the 100th Operations Group, Airmen of the 100th MXG brought all home station KC-135s to a 100% mission capability rate - a metric that directly measures the 100th ARW combat readiness.
“It’s a team effort,” said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Ryan Seymour, noncommissioned officer in charge of the 100th AMXS support flight. “No single shop can get an aircraft ready on its own. We’ve supported other sections like hydraulics, crew chiefs, and avionics with whatever they needed. Sometimes, it’s just about being there to lend a hand—even if it’s just holding a flashlight. We’re all in it together.”
The KC-135 aircraft has been flying since 1957, making them the oldest aircraft flying in the Department of Defense and a true testament to our Airmen's skills and craftsmanship.
With the goal to improve the efficacy of the 100th MXS, Blackford, Vidrine, Master Sgt. Jeffery Gerhke, 100th AMXS lead production superintendent, and the rest of their team implemented a new system that altered the way maintenance on aircraft is handled at RAF Mildenhall, USAFE, and even the Air Force.
“With the age of the planes and the parts we get in, if a plane breaks down, we're not necessarily going to be able to fix it in that 12, 24, even 48-hour break window that we set aside for it,” said Gehrke. "But to sustain it, you must be able to think outside of the box, and you must be able to evolve. There's no sure-fire method, but it's being able to adjust and think on the fly that's important.”
Together as a team, a plan was developed and strategized; they called it the “fly, fix schedule”, a data-leveraged flying schedule where they look at the break rate, fix rate, and the utilization rate of our aircraft.
“We divide our time in a strategic way, on certain days of the week our main focus is supporting higher headquarters and our NATO partners,” said Blackford. “On other days, however, we are dedicated more to wing readiness. Our aircrews and operators can count on flying those days, which gives them more predictable schedules—not just to spend time with their families, but also to take care of other readiness tasks.”
With the changes that were made, along with teamwork and perseverance, RAF Mildenhall achieved a 100% mission readiness rating, proving that our Airmen are qualified and capable of successfully maintaining our aircraft to be ready for anything, anytime, anyplace.
“It's a win for the wing, ultimately,” said Blackford. “Maintenance came together with the logistics readiness squadron, and supply. No other air refueling wing has been at 100% mission capable rate in the last decade. It’s a huge testament to our team, our Airmen's capabilities, and the wing. Many think that it's not achievable anymore, but we did it. We did it because of our conversations, our cross-talks, and policies to get to where we are today. The Airmen of the entire wing made it happen.”
It’s through the actions from the Airmen of the 100th MXG that they were able to --as a team-- achieve a 100% mission capable readiness rating for the first time in over a decade. Using innovation, perseverance, dedication to their excellence, craftsmanship, and goals, these Airmen made history and set the standard of excellence for their operational capacity.