315th Maintenance Group at the tip of the spear Published April 8, 2010 By Lt Col Robert Fraizer 315th MXG CHARLESTON S.C. -- This commentary has been submitted by Lt Col Robert Frazier, 315th Airlift Wing Maintenance Group Deputy Commander. Are you one of those folks who merely watches the news happen on CNN or are you one of those patriots who makes the news happen? Well, if you are a 315th Maintenance Group team member who is here in voluntary man-day or mobilization status, you definitely fall into the latter category. As an integral piece of the support function of the president's military surge in Afghanistan, our folks in the Maintenance Group have more than met the request for assistance from our active duty counterparts in the 437th Maintenance Group. This week, we brought in 162 people to help maintain the 57 C-17 aircraft assigned to Charleston and an anticipated 10 additional C-17's from other bases. Our regular day-to-day missions will continue, and actually increase, with the normal increased operations tempo of the summer months. In addition, Charleston will serve as The Palmetto Stage, launching and recovering an estimated 10 additional aircraft each and every day in direct support of surge operations. The patriotic reservists who will be serving six months of active duty time will be augmenting all maintenance and support functions to ensure a seamless operation. One of our prime concerns as we increase our operations tempo and add such a large number of folks to our workforce, is that we do not forget about the importance of safety and making both smart and appropriate decisions. The phrase, "Hurry, but do not rush" is extremely fitting and should be in all of our minds. There is never going to be a priority so significant that anyone should not accomplish their job safely and in conjunction with all applicable technical orders and regulations. The young Marine or 18 year old Army "grunt" on the ground in the AOR is counting on each of us to do our jobs safely to provide the "beans and bullets" they need to survive. If we do not accomplish our part of the mission safely and incur damage to an aircraft while rushing to get a tire changed or component repaired, we take the chance of vastly reducing our ability to transport those important items to those war-fighters. To help all of us with this concept in the maintenance community, we have implemented a Maintenance Resource Management or MRM program. MRM training provides everyone the opportunity to step away from their workplace for a day and participate in discussions on making safety conscious decisions. Students take a look at the application of these concepts in "real-world situations" and learn from others' mistakes. As we apply these ideas in our individual work areas, it is extremely important that we not only look out for ourselves, but we are also good wingman and look out for a buddy or two. One of the keys to the success of our group is that we work together as a team and help each other to make the best decisions for our folks and our mission. Finally, we hope that everyone knows what a tremendous patriot they are as they hopefully enjoy the opportunity to make a difference in the world while contributing to support of the surge. In the words of President Theodore Roosevelt, "It is not the critic who counts not the man who points out where the strong men stumble or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause. Who at best in the end knows the triumph of high achievement and at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place will never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."