The Mobility Forum Archive Stories

More than 700 ROTC and Junior ROTC cadets, Airmen, and leadership from the 6th Air Refueling Wing pose for a photo in front of a KC-135 Stratotanker during Military Career Day at MacDill Air Force Base, FL, April 28, 2023.

Life can be interesting when we start out with one goal but learn through experiences that there may be a better path. Such is the case of Maj Gen Corey J. Martin, the Commander of the 18th Air Force headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, IL.

Many generations of children have been fascinated by anthills. Something about watching the small but mighty insects carry objects well over their body weight is captivating. There is much to take in as each worker is on a specific mission while the ant colony operates cohesively, maintaining constant productivity and deterrence.

Have you ever had one of those moments in your flying career when you are on the final leg of a long trip back to home station and cannot wait to get home? You cannot wait to see your family, or you have leave planned for the following day—you cannot get done with the trip fast enough! Unfortunately, the weather is down to minimums, you are short on crew duty day, and your crew is tired. You just have to “sneak” below the weather, stick the landing, and you are home-free!

Feb. 1, 2023, marked the 20th anniversary of the space shuttle Columbia tragedy. Much has been written on this incident, including comparisons with the space shuttle Challenger catastrophe, which occurred 17 years earlier on Jan. 28, 1986. Both disasters revealed that NASA accepted risks within the shuttle program discovered during previous flights, which had not performed as expected. These accepted risks added up, resulting in the mishaps. Also, in both instances, engineers most familiar with the relevant systems expressed concerns, but their concerns were overridden. Related in a safety sense are the fairly recent Boeing 737 MAX mishaps, which were also attributed to higher-level management concealing design flaws.

The 101 Critical Days of Summer (CDS) begins on Memorial Day weekend and continues through Labor Day weekend. During this timeframe Airmen and Guardians tend to participate more in outdoor activities, take time to travel, barbeque with friends, and explore new things over a season that has historically come with a higher risk of danger.

Many differences exist between individuals, or rather, every human being is unique. Because of this uniqueness, it is hard to definitively define what fatigue is.

As a Flight Line Expediter during a C-17 launch from Kadena Air Base, Japan, TSgt Daniel Hayes recognized an extremely unsafe situation and intervened with time-critical actions to prevent potential injury to ground personnel and aircraft damage. On Nov. 10, 2022, a C-17 aircrew was performing a non-standard engine start with external air due to an inoperative auxiliary power unit. The TO 1C-17A-1 procedure for engine start with external air is to start the number 4 engine, disconnect the air cart, and then start the number 1 and 2 engines on the opposite side, followed by the last engine.

For more than 60 years, the KC-135 Stratotanker has been a useful enhancement to the U.S. Air Force’s global reach by providing refueling support to Air Force aircraft (as well as to Navy, Marine Corps, and allied nations’ aircraft) and assisting with aeromedical evacuations. Recently, the KC-135 aircrews have faced some difficult obstacles on their missions. Some of the obstacles the crews of the KC-135 have encountered include issues with the Block 45 Autopilot system and flight delays due to defective vertical stabilizer tail pins.

Current and future warfare is changing, and Air Mobility Command (AMC) is working to change with it. All domains are becoming more competitive, and the competitors have greater capabilities than ever before. Without a change in the status quo, our assets could be stretched, creating an allocation crisis. The solution is innovation and adapting to win in any future fight. As AMC adapts and ushers in innovation, they are also taking purposeful steps to foster minds, bodies, and craft to prepare Airmen across all domains.

As the first line of their creed declares, Airmen are warriors, and a common trope about warriors that holds true is that they tend to wander. According to The Soldier’s Project—an organization that provides a safety net of psychological care for military service members and their loved ones—a military family typically moves every 2 to 3 years but may move more frequently, depending on the specific nature of the military family members’ jobs.

TSgt Jeffrey Lee stepped out of his primary career field and performed on-the-job training at Weapons Safety to supplement the primary Weapons Safety Manager during one of the busiest times of the year.