Airman Steven Aguglia, an engine mechanic with the 374th Maintenance Group at Yokota Air Base, works on a C-130 engine. As the Air Force restructures its maintenance groups, mechanics like Aguglia will move to new materiel groups that will continue to do engine inspections and handle logistics for the wings. (Teri Weaver / Stars and Stripes)
The Air Force once again is changing the structure of its maintenance support, dissolving stand-alone mechanical units so that the people who work the flight lines will answer directly to flight operations commanders, according to Air Force officials.
The changes, which begin this summer, put flight line maintenance workers and crew chiefs — those whose responsibilities include getting bombers, fighters and surveillance planes on and off the ground — back under the management of operations wings, according to commanders in the Pacific.
Heavy-duty mechanical work, such as taking engines apart for required inspections, will fall under new materiel groups the Air Force will stand up in coming months, according to Lt. Col. Thomas Barrett III, the deputy commander of the 374th Maintenance Group at Yokota Air Base in Japan.
The Air Force used a similar organization before 2002, Barrett said.
"I’ve worked under both systems," Barrett said at Yokota on Thursday. "I can see benefits to both ways."
The shift is meant to make squadrons, the Air Force’s core units, more self-sufficient when deploying, according to Col. Bret T. Klassen, the commander of the 36th Maintenance Group on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.
"It has to do with how we deploy," said Klassen during a phone interview last week. "When we take F-15s, we want to take them in mass, as a cohesive unit that is used to working together. The pilots and the crew chiefs, they will deploy in a cohesive unit to wherever they need to go to."
Structurally, however, it will mean that the force’s maintenance groups will stand down and operations groups will grow larger.
At the same time, materiel groups will form and replace existing logistics readiness squadrons. In addition to performing complex maintenance on aircraft, these new groups will handle logistics for the wings, both Klassen and Barrett said.
At Yokota, the changes will start July 24, Barrett said. At Andersen, implementation will begin Aug. 1, Klassen said.
The average airman will see little change, other than getting a new commander, Barrett said. For leaders, however, it may mean adapting to a new set of skills.
"Before, as a maintenance guy, I didn’t really worry about how I got the parts," said Klassen, who will become the materiel group commander.
"I just had to fix the planes. Now I’m the guy who has to worry about getting those parts. That’s a change in scope for me to look at."
