As a temporary designation, the 320th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron maintains a fleet of C-130 Hercules for Operation Enduring Freedom

When SSgt. Eric Johnson, a Guard member from the Idaho Air National Guard near Boise, was told he would be spending the month of December in the Middle Eastern country of Oman, he made necessary preparations to leave his civilian job as a printed circuit board designer for Micron Technology and treated his deployment as just another TDY, only with field conditions.

As a COMM/NAV systems specialist, Johnson was assigned to the 320th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron, a subunit of the 320th Air Expeditionary Wing, whose mission is to maintain a fleet of C-130 Hercules supplying forward-deployed locations for Operation Enduring Freedom.

The 320th EMXS is an intra-theater airlift asset that has been in Oman for some time, according to Lt. Col. Tim Marsano, Idaho Air National Guard Public Affairs. While its presence preceded the current build-up of forces in the Middle East, the 320th EMXS is located at Seeb Air Force Base, one of many scattered throughout the Persian Gulf territory that provides supplies and personnel to all the bases in the area.

The 320th EMXS is made up of the total force, mostly activeduty maintenance people from stateside Air Force bases, with others from various Air National Guard and Air Force Reserves rainbowing into that unit. The 320th EMXS falls under the Aerospace Expeditionary Combat Support Division that integrates Air Force major commands and Air Reserve components’ inputs into a total force deployment schedule to provide mission-ready forces across the full spectrum of conflict. As a temporary designation, the 320th EMXS incorporates key force management goals of teaming, stability, predictability and reduction of personnel tempo to enhance Air Force retention initiatives.

“These deployments are part of the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Aerospace Force (EAF) concept, which spreads out this type of deployment among active duty, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard units,” Lt. Col. Marsano said. “The concept allows for long-range planning and helps ensure these rotations are assigned equitably. Temporary unit designations are common on these missions, since EAF wings and squadrons are actually created from a number of different units.”

Employing the EAF concept, while active duty and full-time Guard troops deploy for three months, the reservists and National Guard members often triple up for a 30-day period to ease the burden on their civilian employers. There’s a flexibility to deploy an EMXS force on fairly short notice from a variety of places, and the augmentation process seems to be a smooth one.

“As far as training is concerned, what we do on a daily basis helps us prepare for integration into a temporary designation,” said Maj. Bob Park, a full-time Guard member in Idaho and a recent commander of the 320th EMXS. “Plus, we must pack all of the necessary equipment and get updated computer training, current medical records, shots and safety training.”

While in Oman, their duties are to maintain C-130 aircraft, which are capable of operating from rough, dirt strips and are the prime transport for air dropping troops and equipment into hostile areas. Most of the fleet’s missions supply forward-deployed troops in Afghanistan, often under the cover of darkness. Because the aircraft airframe performs a diverse number of roles, however, a lot of planes are in and out of there every day at any time. Preparing a flight depends on what is scheduled for a particular mission and is usually accomplished many hours ahead of the flight. But circumstances in this forward-deployed area always change, so flexibility is foremost.

“C-130s can haul anything that will fit into the cargo compartment,” said TSgt. James R. Cowns, III, a crew chief and flightline expeditor, deployed from Will Rogers Air National Guard in Oklahoma City, Okla. “That can be vehicles, people, medical supplies, weapons, food, mattresses, water, etc. anywhere within the theater. Our aircraft are flying to all points in the Gulf region and into Afghanistan.”

The 320th has a 70 percent usage rate, which means seven out of 10 aircraft assigned fly every day to locations in the area of responsibility. Not only do they support home-station aircraft, they also handle transient dissimilar aircraft from a variety of services and nations.

The flightline is divided into two areas, a dirt ramp and a concrete ramp. This leads to the maintainers calling themselves the Dirt Rangers and Concrete Cowboys, because depending on what maintenance needs to be accomplished determines where the C-130 is parked. And because the design of the Hercules requires a constant change in configuration for passengers and cargo, the crew chiefs, specialists, technicians and back shop personnel keep busy.

“From the time they land until they take off, we are working on them,” TSgt. Cowns said. “The aggressive flying schedule and minimum groundtime creates a frantic maintenance pace to keep them flying.”

Even though time and the complexity of the aircraft are the maintainers’ biggest challenge, TSgt. Cowns said he believes the C-130 is one of the most durable airframes in the Air Force inventory.

“I’ve been a crew chief on UH-1H helicopters in the Army and now the C-130H2 in the Air National Guard,” he said. “Even though crew chief duties are similar between aircraft, the C-130 is a more complex aircraft with many more backup systems and procedures. All aircraft are unique in their own way, but the C-130 is the ‘workhorse’ of the Air Force.”

Through the 320th EMXS, the total force mixture allows both active and Guard mechanics to compare maintenance practices and procedures to make better mechanics in both forces, allowing them to fix some problems faster. The Guard members bring a level of expertise and knowledge as technicians working on the same planes for many years that the younger active duty troops do not have.

“We didn’t go in there to change things, but to support the mission they had going at the time,” Major Park said. “There was a sense of comradery, and the expertise we bring is a benefit to Air Expeditionary wings.”

“It gives Guard members the opportunity to work with active duty in a real world experience,” SSgt. Johnson said. “It’s a great chance for us to put our skills to the test, mold with active duty and learn from them since they are the experts who do this every day.”

At the time of printing, a total of 500 Idaho National Guardsmen have been deployed. Three hundred Air National Guardsmen have been deployed overseas, most going to the Gulf region, while 200 Army National Guardsmen have been deployed in support of homeland defense missions.