F-16 Fighting Falcon News

March 2, 2009 (by SSgt. John Gordinier) - An F-16 Fighting Falcon from the 301st Fighter Squadron out of Fort Worth Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, Texas, pulls into a hangar here for alert-status preparation.
A frenzy of crew chiefs work together to get the aircraft turned around quickly for the next go. Among the crew chiefs, a master sergeant and a senior airman with the same last name on their nametapes work side-by-side preparing the jet for the fight.

Air Force Reservists Master Sgt. Darrel Brownlee and his son, Senior Airman Kevin Brownlee, 332nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron aircraft maintenance unit, recently deployed here for an 80-day rotation from their hometown of Ft. Worth, Texas.

"It's great working with my son. He finally does what I tell him to do," Sergeant Brownlee said jokingly while staring at his son with a grin. "We work very well together, and it's great to have family by my side during this deployment.

"At first, it was just me deploying and my wife, Troy Lynn, was a little bothered by that," the master sergeant said. "Later, we found out Kevin was going as well; needless to say, my wife blamed me a little at first, but she got over it pretty fast."

"I have a good time working with my dad, because I get to teach him something every once in a while," Airman Brownlee responded, poking fun back at his dad. "My dad didn't push me into the Air Force at all, it was my decision, and I'm very happy with my experience thus far. Not many people can say they work on F-16 fighter jets."

Sergeant Brownlee has seven years of active-duty and 17 years of Reserve service while his son has spent three years as a Reservist.

"Sergeant and Airman Brownlee are the epitome of dedication and service and help complete the total-force chain," said Capt. Robert Mehan, 332nd AMXS AMU officer-in-charge. "As citizen Airmen, they bring the same combat capability our active-duty Air Force counterparts bring into the (area of responsibility) without missing a beat."

Crew chief duties are different in the Balad environment in several ways, Mehan said. Back home, it is rare to work around aircraft with live munitions. Here, they are all loaded. Here, crew chiefs work any aircraft in order to support the flying mission, while back home, they are assigned to specific jets.

Being a crew chief is a great thing, Sergeant Brownlee said. At most bases across the U.S., a crew chief is responsible for one aircraft and its maintainers. In the AOR, all crew chiefs work together as a team to make sure each alert jet that comes through is safely and quickly turned around or fully armed for mission success.

"We're proud to be part of that," Airman Brownlee quickly added.

Sergeant Brownlee paused and replied, "It's good to see him confident in his work."