C-17 Health Care: Non-destructive Inspection Shop Looks Into C-17’s Body to Determine Potential Problems

Airman 1st Class Khalil Edmonson, 437th Maintenance Squadron non-destructive inspection journeyman, responds to a requests to review a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft part on Feb. 18, 2015 at Joint Base Charleston, S.C. Edmonson and other NDI technicians work directly with maintenance inspectors when wear and tear is visible on the aircraft.

The Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) technician is the personal physician for the C-17 Globemaster III. Much like a regular doctor, the 437^th Maintenance Squadron’s NDI shop at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, looks over the C-17 to catch problems before the entire aircraft, as well as its crew, can be put into jeopardy. Instead of tumors and disease, NDI technicians look for cracks and other defects in each part of the airplane they inspect. JB Charleston celebrated 3 million flying hours for the C-17 fleet earlier this year. The milestone is the equivalent of one aircraft being airborne for 342 years. So the mileage on the C-17 makes aircraft part inspection especially crucial. “I am most proud of how many lives we have saved and mishaps we have been able to prevent by finding cracked, damaged and faulty parts,” said Staff Sgt. John M. Price, the NDI assistant NCO in charge. “Removing them from service eliminated any potential risks they could have caused if they continued to be used in flying operations.”

Non destructive inspection technicians assigned to the 437th Maintenance Squadron, close the door of a C-17 Globemaster III after completing an inspection request on Feb. 18, 2015 at Joint Base Charleston, S.C. The 437th MXS NDI technicians are responsible for detecting cracks in aircraft or vehicle parts for the entire fleet at Joint Base Charleston.

Many bases provide NDI support to the C-17, but JB Charleston is the only one used for testing. The shop’s five active-duty Airmen, two Air Force Reserve technicians and two civilian technicians inspect metal objects ranging from nuts and bolts to large hooks and sheets of metal. Parts vary from those weighing hundreds of pounds and designed to hold the C-17’s main landing gear to a 2-inch bolt that weighs only ounces. JB Charleston’s NDI was named the best laboratory in the Air Force in 2006 against almost 200 other labs. Its Airmen have also received numerous individual awards. Although NDI technicians feel a sense of accomplishment when they find a crack in an airplane part, the key is the inspection process, said Tech. Sgt. Ryan Michalec, the shop’s NCO in charge. “Doing the job is actually fairly simple. It’s knowing the science behind it,” he said. “It’s understanding how to interpret what you’re looking at, not only physically, with the parts, penetrant and magnetic particle testing, but also with the machines that are telling you what’s going on.” Once the NDI technicians find a crack, they refer the part to aircraft structural maintenance for repair. The part will then return to NDI for a post inspection after it’s repaired. While inspecting JB Charleston’s 50 C-17s, the shop uses six inspection methods: fluorescent penetrant, eddy current, magnetic particle, bond testing, ultrasonic and X-ray testing methods. Liquid penetrant testing is one of the oldest and simplest NDI methods, dating back to the 19^th century, where it was used on railroad parts with kerosene and an oil mixture, Michalec said. Today, a florescent penetrant is used to detect any surface-connected discontinuities, such as cracks from fatigue, quenching and grinding, as well as fractures, porosity, and flaws in joints. A penetrant is applied to the test part, rinsed with water, submerged in an emulsifying liquid, rinsed with water again, then followed by a developer. The developer helps to draw the penetrant out of the flaw where an invisible indication becomes visible. Inspection is performed under ultraviolet light.

Airman 1st Class Khalil Edmonson, 437th Maintenance Squadron non-destructive inspection journeyman, reviews lines to determine cracks on two sheets of metal during an electromagnetic inspection at Joint Base Charleston, S.C. The 437th MXS NDI shop inspects metal objects ranging from nuts and bolts, to large hooks and sheets of metal.

“The reason we use fluorescent light is because the visual acuity of someone with 20/20 vision is about one-3000^th of an inch, meaning that is what you can actually see,” Michalec said. “But we’re looking for stuff you can’t see. We’re looking for stuff that, if you’re looking at a part, you have no idea there’s a crack on there unless you specifically knew where and what to look for. “The good thing about this method is it’s sensitive, and we can find very tiny cracks with it, which is great because if you’re in the aircraft world, you know that little, tiny cracks can turn into really big cracks with the right amount of stress on that particular part.” Eddy currents are circular electrical currents induced in a conductive metal by reacting to an alternating magnetic field. The testing uses electromagnetic induction to detect flaws in conductive materials. It can detect particularly small cracks on or near the surface. “The technology on that particular inspection has increased a lot over the last 30 years,” Michalec said. “The capability has gone from basically a needle on a meter to a machine that actually reads conductivity like a tiny metal detector. “You’re going to get these little circular electrical currents flowing inside of that metal called eddy currents. Those circular electrical currents are going to create another magnetic field that’s pushing against the magnetic field coming out of the probe. Electricity and magnetism don’t like to go through air. When that secondary magnetic field hits that crack, it’s going to disappear, and the machine is made to read what extent the eddy currents dissipate, so we can estimate what kind of depth we have in the crack.”

Airman 1st Class Khalil Edmonson, 437th Maintenance Squadron non-destructive inspection journeyman, responds to a requests to review the right inboard main landing gear door hinge pin on a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft part on Feb. 18, 2015 at Joint Base Charleston, S.C. Edmonson and other NDI technicians work directly with maintenance inspectors when wear and tear is visible on the aircraft.

Because the C-17 is made mostly out of bonded structures, NDI uses ultrasonic testing quite often. It’s the same technology used to detect a fetus in the womb, but instead of a baby, the NDI technician is looking for a crack. “It’s a different technique, but the same theory applies,” Michalec said.  “We’re placing sound into a material, looking for a reflection from the back side of it, and if we see anything in between there, we can tell you there’s a crack and the depth of the crack.” The same theory also applies to bond testing, Michalec said. The idea is to put sound into the part being inspected and look for changes in the sound waves  on the equipment’s screen. One common method of bond testing is the tap test. The technician taps the surface of the test structure and evaluates the sound the knock produced. The tap test method has demonstrated the ability to detect cracks, corrosion, impact damage and disbanding of bonded structures. “It’s like finding a stud in the wall,” Michalec said.

Airman 1st Class Brett Gyurnek, 437th Maintenance Squadron non-destructive inspection journeyman, 437th Maintenance Squadron non-destructive inspection journeyman, wears a protective mask, apron and gloves while handling aircraft parts that have been sprayed with a dye to prevent any of the liquid from getting on his skin or in his eyes on Feb. 18, 2014 at Joint Base Charleston, S.C. The 437th MXS NDI shop inspects metal objects ranging from nuts and bolts, to large hooks and sheets of metal on aircraft and vehicles.

Radiography involves the photographic record produced by the passage of radiation, such as X-rays or gamma rays through an object onto film. When X-ray film is exposed to radiation, an invisible change called a latent image is produced on the film itself, once the film is developed. Along with the variety of testing methods, one of the advantages of the NDI career field is its versatility, Michalec said. He’s done inspections on virtually every Air Force airplane during his career, in addition to Marine Corps helicopters, the Navy’s EA-6B Prowler and oil analysis testing on the Army’s special operations helicopters while he was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. “I don’t think there’s but one or two military aircraft that I haven’t had my hands on in my 13-year career,” Michalec said. “I enjoy it, because this is one career field where we can go and work on anything. If it rolls, rotates or flies, we can work on it. That makes it a unique kind of career field because if you are a C-17 crew chief, you’re a C-17 crew chief. If you’re an F-16 (Fighting Falcon) crew chief, you’re an F-16 crew chief. You are going to stay with that platform. “But for us, we can go to different bases and work on different platforms. Whether they are helicopters, fighters, cargo, bombers or attack aircraft, NDI can do a job on them, and the equipment would also be the same. We use the same equipment across the Air Force, with the same standards.” Another aspect of the job that remains the same, from tech school through a decade or so in the career field, is the satisfaction that comes from finding a crack. When Michalec was a tech school instructor, he encouraged his students by telling them, “Just wait until you find your first crack.” They don’t always find defects in the C-17 parts they inspect, which is obviously a good thing for the Air Force and the Airmen who fly the aircraft. But there is an adrenaline rush when they do.

Airman 1st Class Khalil Edmonson, 437th Maintenance Squadron non-destructive inspection journeyman, documents his work order request from maintenance inspectors inside of a C-17 Globemaster III on Feb. 18, 2015 at Joint Base Charleston, S.C. Edmonson and other technicians are required to document all maintenance encounters to ensure each work order can be read by maintainers assigned to the aircraft.

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Military Brothers: Eleven Brothers in One Family Choose Military Careers, Three Choose Air Force

MILITARY BROTHERS

Eleven brothers in one family choose military careers, three choose AF

BY RANDY ROUGHTON

27 July 2015

11 Davis brothers have served 164 years of dedicated service. (Courtesy photo)

On Ben and Hattie Davis’ farm in Wetumpka, Alabama, their 16 children learned the value of family and hard work. But they also learned they wanted something more for their own lives, a realization that led 11 sons into the military, including three who chose the Air Force. The service was an escape for Arguster, Eddie and Julius Davis, whether from a life of little promise in their small, central Alabama town during the 1950s or from an Army draft notice during wartime.
“I thought the farm life was hard at the time, but it taught us all great lessons like how hard work pays off,” Arguster said. “But that was the type of work none of us boys wanted to continue. The military was an escape for all of us boys. Our options were to stay and work on the farm, which we didn’t want to do, find a minimum wage job in the area where we lived, or try to move to some city where we didn’t know anybody. I think the military gave us the opportunity to earn money and grow up a little bit, to be out on our own, and was a great steppingstone for many of us. I know it was for me.”
The Davis brothers’ parents had one goal for their children – to finish high school, because their father didn’t make it past the third grade, and their mother only made it to the ninth grade. Each brother graduated, and three earned college degrees. Military careers made secondary education possible for several of them.

11 Davis brothers have served 164 years of dedicated servic(Courtesy photo #2)

The 11 brothers served a combined 158 years in the military, beginning with Ben Jr., now 88, who gave 33 years of service. Other than the three Airmen, seven served in the Army, including the late Washington Davis, and two had Navy careers. Edward, the second-oldest brother, became the family’s first Airman when he enlisted in 1951. Unlike his brothers, Edward lived his teen years with his natural mother and grandmother in Pittsburgh. After high school, he was working with the Pennsylvania Railroad and was trying to get into college when he enlisted in the Air Force to avoid getting drafted into the Army.
“We have one uncle who is a Pearl Harbor survivor, Thomas Davis, in Montgomery,” said Edward, now 85. “At the time I was going to (Elmore County Training School), he was in the Navy during World War II and came back to school. The little kids were so happy to see him. Little by little, as time went along with the situation in Alabama, the military became an option because for a lot of them, it was a matter of going to school or working on the farm. My thing was avoiding the Army because you hear of all that glory in the Air Force.”
Edward completed his certification in preventive medicine at the University of Denver in 1952 and left active duty in 1955. However, he continued his education on the GI Bill while in the Air Force Reserve until his unit was activated for the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. A year later,Edward joined the Army and served until his retirement in 1980. He worked for the U.S. Postal Service until 1994, when he worked part time with his wife in a funeral home in Pittsburgh until 2005.
In June 1964, Julius followed his brother into the Air Force and served for almost 12 years when he left as a technical sergeant in 1976. After high school, he had an opportunity for an academic scholarship at Alabama A&M University, but didn’t want to wait. He began his Air Force career in inventory management, but eventually became a procurement advisor, when he was selected for the job at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

11 Davis brothers have served 164 years of dedicated service. (Courtesy photo #3)

“It ended up being a family tradition, but we didn’t look at it that way,” said Julius, now 68 and living in Wellington, Florida, where he and his wife own an executive search firm for nuclear utilities. “Growing up in a small town in Alabama in the 1940s and 1950s, there were not many opportunities for black people. We didn’t look at it as a family tradition; it was just a way out. I told a couple of my brothers that I don’t know if any other family accomplished that, having that many brothers go into the military.”
Julius’ education also benefitted from his Air Force career. He used the GI Bill to earn a bachelor’s degree in business administration from California State University in Sacramento.
Even though the youngest Davis brother had seen 10 before him choose the military as an escape from life in Wetumpka, it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that Arguster would become the 11^th. He was the only brother to go directly to college when he attended Tuskegee Institute after his high school graduation in 1970. But when Arguster returned for the fall semester in 1971, he withdrew and moved to California. After having no luck finding work for three months, Arguster was inducted into the Air Force Nov. 1, 1971, and his first duty station was Carswell Air Force Base, Texas, in vehicle operations. He quickly learned the Air Force would help him reach his goal of returning to college.

11 Davis brothers have served 164 years of dedicated service. (Courtesy photo #4)

“After about six months there, I found out the Air Force had a tuition assistance program that paid 75 percent of tuition, and I jumped on that immediately,” the 62-year-old said. “I went to evening classes at (Texas Christian University), and they even provided noon classes on base.”
When Arguster left the Air Force four years later, he remained in the area so he could complete his bachelor’s degree in business management.
“So I actually squeezed eight years of living into six by doing four years of active duty and receiving a college degree, and I did all of that without touching my VA benefits,” he said. “I used those VA benefits to earn two associate degrees in auto mechanics and air conditioning and heating.”
Three years after leaving active duty, Arguster joined the Air Force Reserve and served another 19 years before he retired as a senior master sergeant in 1998. He and his wife, Linda, moved back to Alabama in McCalla near Birmingham after he retired from the U.S. Postal Service in 2009.
“Once we saw the ones ahead of us succeeding, we thought, ‘OK, that’s not too bad,’” he said. “You get a place to stay, free meals and clothing, the opportunity to travel, and you make money too. So what more could you ask for? I think the ones who went ahead of us paved the route for a better option to make our lives better.”

11 Davis brothers have served 164 years of dedicated service. (Courtesy photo #4)

As each brother began to earn money in the military, he picked a project to help the parents back in Wetumpka. The project may have been buying a new refrigerator, installing a bathroom, or putting gas in the house, Arguster said.
The brothers became closer after their father died in 1984, and the mother died in 2001. For years, they selected a destination where they could travel to meet and play golf. Five brothers still live in Alabama, including three who live only about two hours from Arguster in Montgomery.

11 Davis brothers have served 164 years of dedicated service. (Courtesy photo #5)

“We still all talk to one another,” he said. “Within a week’s time after we talk to one of our brothers, we all know how each one is doing, whether we talked to them or not. We really became closer after both of our parents passed. I think that is the way they would have wanted it.”
The brothers who chose the military, whether for a career or as a step in the right direction, remain proud of the decision they made as young adults.

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A Brother Found: Family Helps WWII Airman Missing for 70 Years Finally Get His Burial at Arlington

A BROTHER FOUND

Family helps WWII Airman missing for 70 years finally get his burial at Arlington

STORY BY RANDY ROUGHTON / PHOTOS BY MASTER SGT. JEFFREY ALLEN, STAFF SGT. VERNON YOUNG JR., AND STAFF SGT. ANDREW LEE

15 December 2014

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As Ted Gardner’s hands clasped the American flag at the end of the burial service at Arlington National Cemetery, his thoughts were as much on his late father as they were on the older brother he hardly knew. After 70 years since Army Air Corps Sgt. Charles A. Gardner was declared missing in action, the younger brother’s DNA had helped identify his remains and enable him to be buried with full military honors at Arlington, Va., on Dec. 4.

Sgt. Maj. Michael Callaghan-McCann presents the U.S. flag to Theodore Garner, brother of Army Air Forces Sgt. Charles A. Gardner at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Gardner, along with 11 of his fellow crew members, went missing on April 10, 1944, after his B-24D Liberator was shot down over New Guinea. Callaghan-McCann is the 1st Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment’s command sergeant major. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Vernon Young Jr.)

But Gardner, now 86 and living in Manning, S.C., never forgot the day his father received the telegram in the spring of 1944 informing him that his son was missing in action after his plane was shot down just a few weeks after his 32nd birthday. It was the only time Gardner, then 16, could remember seeing his father’s tears, but the heartache seemed to remain until Charles Biddle Gardner died in 1973.
“My daddy was at our kitchen table drinking coffee when someone from the telegraph office came out and gave him the telegram saying (Charles) was missing in action,” Gardner said. “That was the only time I ever saw my daddy put his head down on the table and cry.”

Members of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment’s Caisson Platoon stand in formation prior to honoring Army Air Forces Sgt. Charles A. Gardner at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Gardner, along with 11 of his fellow crew members, went missing on April 10, 1944, after his B-24D Liberator was shot down over New Guinea. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Vernon Young Jr.)

Gardner was a radio operator in the New Guinea chapter of the “Jolly Rogers” of the 90th Bombardment Group’s B-24 Liberator units. On April 10, 1944, Gardner and 11 other crew members were declared missing after their B-24, nicknamed “Hot Garters,” was shot down over the Madang Province during a planned attack on an anti-aircraft site at Hansa Bay on the north coast of Papua, New Guinea. The bay was a major Japanese naval base and transit station during World War II. Natives told Allied investigators they had seen five men parachute from the B-24 after it was hit. Four of them were captured and executed by the Japanese.
In letters he wrote to his family, Gardner mentioned he was participating in flying missions over the Japanese-controlled islands that surrounded Australia. In another letter written to his mother, he wrote about not completing his parachute training, so if something happened, he saw himself going down with the plane, said Ted Gardner’s wife, Peggy.
Decade after decade passed, and the family had given up hope of ever getting Gardner’s remains back. Then, the family received a call last year from Karen Johnson, a mortuary affairs specialist with the Department of the Army’s Casualty, Mortuary Affairs and Operations Center’s Past Conflicts Reparation Branch.
Johnson told the Gardners that remains had been found in New Guinea.

Members of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment’s Caisson Platoon carry the remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Sgt. Charles A. Gardner at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Gardner, along with 11 of his fellow crew members, went missing April 10, 1944, after his B-24D Liberator was shot down over New Guinea. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Jeffrey Allen)

“I will cry when I tell this part,” Peggy said. “They didn’t want to get our hopes up, but they wanted to see if it could possibly be somebody who was related to us, so they sent us the DNA packets, and Ted, our two sons and their sons sent their DNA.
“When Karen Johnson called about the DNA matching Charles, goose bumps went up and down my arm. I could not believe it, and I just started crying,” she said. “I didn’t know I was going to cry because this was somebody I never saw. But this meant so much to us because I knew how much it had meant to Mr. Gardner.”
The DNA confirmed that Gardner’s remains, as well as those of eight other crew members, were found in New Guinea between 2008 and 2011. Two others were identified and buried in their hometowns, and five others who could not be identified are scheduled to be buried at Arlington in 2015.

Members of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment’s Caisson Platoon carry the remains of Army Air Forces Sgt. Charles A. Gardner in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Gardner, along with 11 of his fellow crew members, went missing on April 10, 1944, after his B-24D Liberator was shot down over New Guinea. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Vernon Young Jr.)

The only memories Gardner has of his brother are from letters and phone calls and stories his father told of the time he spent with him before he was sent to the Southwest Pacific. The elder Gardner and his siblings grew up mostly in California, while his father remarried in 1927, a year before Ted’s birth, and he grew up in Mullins, S.C.
“He was so heartbroken,” Peggy said of Gardner’s father after his first wife took the children to the West Coast. “You could just tell he was so heartbroken about not getting to see those boys grow up.”
When he got the call that his brother had been identified, Gardner had to make the decision on whether he should be buried at Arlington or beside his father in Mullins.
“When they contacted me, I said he’d never lived in the South,” Gardner said. “He’d grown up on the West Coast, but there really wasn’t anybody left there except for one nephew (Harvey March Jr.). In my mind, the best place to put him was at Arlington because he was a serviceman who had died in service. So (Arlington) should be the proper place to have his remains buried.”

Members of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment’s Caisson Platoon align to carry the remains of Army Air Forces Sgt. Charles A. Gardner in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Gardner, along with 11 of his fellow crew members, went missing on April 10, 1944, after his B-24D Liberator was shot down over New Guinea. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Vernon Young Jr.)

Because Gardner was an Army Air Corps Airman, the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, also known as “The Old Guard,” conducted military honors for his burial service, which included a caisson, escort platoon, colors and casket team, firing party and the U.S. Army Band’s “Pershing’s Own.” Before Gardner received his brother’s flag and the three-rifle salute, Army Chaplain (Capt.) Ted Randall summed up the family’s feelings on the long-awaited day.
“For our comrade, Sgt. Charles Gardner, our nation bestows military honors,” the chaplain said at the end of his remarks. “In life, he honored the flag, and in death, the flag will honor him.”
As he listened to the chaplain, Gardner couldn’t help but reflect on his father and what he might have felt to see his son laid to rest among the nation’s other heroes at Arlington.

Sgt. Maj. Michael Callaghan-McCann (center) salutes the U.S. flag before he presents it to a family member of Army Air Forces Sgt. Charles A. Gardner at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Gardner, along with 11 of his fellow crew members, went missing on April 10, 1944, after his B-24D Liberator was shot down over New Guinea. Callaghan-McCann is the 1st Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment’s command sergeant major. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Andrew Lee)

“Deep down, I wouldn’t say I felt exactly happy, but it sent something through me, knowing that he had been found and wishing my father could have been alive, so he could also know that,” Gardner said. “It was just a feeling of thankfulness that (Charles) had been found, and they had finally recovered parts of his body.”

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Heroism Repeated: Airman Makes Air Force History with a Second Silver Star

HEROISM REPEATED

Airman makes Air Force history with a second Silver Star

BY RANDY ROUGHTON

22 December 2014

Maj. Gen. Harry Polumbo presents Master Sgt. Thomas Case with his second Silver Star medal during a ceremony at Pope Army Airfield, N.C. Polumbo is the Ninth Air Force commander, and Case is a tactical air control party Airman with the 18th Air Support Operations Group. Case received the medal for gallantry in action during a 2009 deployment to Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Ryan Callaghan)

One thousand feet into a 5-kilometer hike toward a target deep in a dangerous part of Afghanistan’s Paktia Province, Master Sgt. Thomas Case realized something was wrong. “Sir, we’re not where we’re supposed to be,” the tactical air control party NCO told his special operations task force commander after he looked down at his wrist GPS.
It proved to be a fortunate wrong turn for Case and the assault force.
“It was kind of a godsend that we ended up taking the wrong path because we came to find out that all of the enemy combatants up there had heavy weaponry oriented toward the valley where we were going to be operating,” Case said. “It was kind of like we were supposed to walk up there and distract them from what was going on below, so to speak.”
Case, then assigned to the 17th Air Support Operations Squadron, now the 17th Special Tactics Squadron, at Fort Benning, Ga., was attached to an Army Ranger team on an overnight mission to capture a high-level target and destroy an insurgent training camp high in the mountains. Suddenly, shots began to rain down on them, and the platoon was soon pinned down by enemy fire from higher ground 15 meters from their position. Machine-gun fire impacted trees and ground within 2 feet of Case as he tried to determine the insurgents’ position to call in air support. However, the wires on his radio were severed in the attack, and Case couldn’t communicate with supporting aircraft that included an AC-130 gunship and F-15 Eagles.

Master Sgt. Thomas Case coordinates aerial command and control while deployed as part of a joint task force during Operation Enduring Freedom. Case, who received his second Silver Star medal Nov. 13, 2014, is a tactical air control party Airman with the 18th Air Support Operations Group at Pope Army Airfield, N.C. (U.S. Air Force photo)

For his actions on the June 16-17, 2009, mission, Case received the oak leaf cluster to the Silver Star in a ceremony at Pope Army Air Field, N.C., where he is now stationed as the operations superintendent for the 18th Air Support Operations Group.
In addition to becoming one of only three Airmen with two Silver Stars, Case also became the seventh military member since 9/11 to have that distinction, except for classified medals awarded to Navy SEALs. He is also the only TAC-P in the Air Force with a second Silver Star. Tech. Sgt. Ismael Villegas and Staff Sgt. Sean Harvell, the other two Airmen with two Silver Stars, were both combat controllers.
“As a young staff sergeant receiving (the Silver Star), I thought it was pretty cool, but you tend to think it’s about me,” Case said. “Then, as you get a little more mature and you realize you’ve been nominated for a second one that’s been approved by both the Air Force and the Army, you realize you really want this one to be more about the career field, and let the civilian population understand that it’s not just Marines and Soldiers. There are Airmen, too, who are fighting, sometimes right next to our Army brothers.”
Since his ceremony, Case has told and read his story countless times. He can close his eyes and take himself back to the darkness in the mountainous terrain of the Khost-Gardez Pass as the insurgents tried to close in on their position.
Once he realized his radio wires were damaged, Case held them together as he made the call to request immediate air support. However, the AC-130 needed a couple of minutes to get into position, and Case learned support was still five minutes away. As enemy fire landed within feet of Case and whirled past his head, he stood up to lay down suppressive fire with his M-4 rifle and led five friendly assault force enablers, who were tactical psychological operations, cultural support team and combat camera members, to move behind cover.
As the fire continued to land within feet of his position, Case again stood to make sure the AC-130 hit the correct target area. He then saw two enemy fighters armed with AK-47 assault rifles headed down the hill and firing at him and the ground force commander.
As the insurgents closed within 15 meters of Case and the ground force commander, the joint terminal attack controller stepped between them and his commander. Case then shot dead both insurgents, who turned out to be heavily trained foreign fighters, with his M-4.
“I didn’t think too much about it,” he said. “I was just trying to make sure our GFC could do his job and move his guys and know where his platoon leader was. I’d been around long enough to understand that the GFC is a pretty important guy, and it’s our job as JTACs to be attached to that guy at the hip to make sure he’s making sound decisions in regards to airpower.”

Maj. Gen. Harry Polumbo presented Master Sgt. Thomas Case with his second Silver Star medal during a ceremony at Pope Army Airfield, N.C. Case received the medal for gallantry in action during a 2009 deployment to Afghanistan. The Silver Star Medal is the U.S. militaryÕs third highest military decoration for valor. It is presented for gallantry in action against an enemy of the U.S. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Ryan Callaghan)

As the battle raged on, the enemy moved to higher terrain and threw grenades down the mountain slope at the platoon. One grenade exploded about 10 meters from Case, damaging his helmet and wounding two Rangers. Case directed six more “danger close” strikes, which means friendly forces are within range of being harmed by incoming ordnance, and then realized he needed to link with the lead element to see the entrenched enemy position.
With zero visibility because of dust and haze from the air strikes and still under enemy fire, Case climbed 50 meters up a 60-degree embankment to reach the fire team leader. Once there, he repaired his radio and directed four AC-130 strikes on three enemy combatants about 100 meters away. A few minutes later, two more insurgents flanked his position within 7 meters in a clump of trees. Case threw a grenade that killed one of them and shot the other insurgent dead.
The 2009 mission happened six years after Case received his first Silver Star for actions during the Global War on Terror between March 31 and April 5, 2003. He was a staff sergeant aligned with Company B, 3rd Ranger Battalion in Iraq, tasked with directing combat aircraft. The company had been receiving heavy-direct and small-arms fire, anti-aircraft cannon, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar and artillery fire. Case directed air strikes while firing his personal weapon at enemy within 30 meters of his position. At one point, Case controlled 14 aircraft and was responsible for more than 300 enemy casualties and the destruction of 29 tanks, three heavy cargo trucks, nine S-60 anti-mortars, 10 enemy boats and helped ensure the success and safety of 120 Army Rangers.
Maybe it’s at least partly due to the fact that 14 of his 16 deployments were in support of their missions, but Case has always felt a special bond with Army Rangers.
“I have a very soft spot in my heart for the Army Rangers,” he said. “We’re talking about guys who, in your off-duty time, you’re with. Your friends, wives and kids are together. You’re barbecuing together, you’re training together and you’re deploying together. So there is a bond there, and it goes beyond the color of your uniform or what your name tape says. I talk to a lot of those guys to this very day.”
Some of them were at his award ceremony at Polk Field, and one Ranger, the first sergeant on the Afghanistan mission, paid Case one of the highest compliments a JTAC can receive before he returned home from the deployment.
“‘Tom, I just want you to know that what you did on this rotation was really great, and we appreciate the fact that you were here with us. There’s not a Ranger here who can out-Ranger you, and you’re in the Air Force.’
“They’re always going to remind you that you are in the Air Force,” Case said, laughing. “But it was a really big compliment, and one of the biggest compliments I’ve ever gotten.”

Master Sgt. Thomas Case is the third Airman and first tactical air control party member since 9/11 to receive two Silver Stars. Case received the medal for gallantry in action during a 2009 deployment to Afghanistan. The Silver Star medal is the U.S. militaryÕs third highest military decoration for valor. It is presented for gallantry in action against an enemy of the U.S. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Ryan Callaghan)

A few days after receiving his second Silver Star, Case was back in his office, telling his story yet again. He was also spreading the lust for life he’s cultivated from experiences like the one in the Khost-Gardez Pass on his 16 deployments.
“I look at every day as a blessing,” he said. “As a matter of fact, I think it drives our first sergeant nuts here because I tell her that every day. Some days she asks me why I’m still smiling, and I say because it’s a blessing to be here. I don’t attribute that to any specific life-changing event. I honestly think that every day is a blessing. I like life.”

- See more at: http://airman.dodlive.mil/2014/12/heroism-repeated/#sthash.z5FbVlbf.dpuf

Quality Breeding: DOD Program Strives to Establish Proven Bloodlines for Military Working Dogs

QUALITY BREEDING

DOD program strives to establish proven bloodlines for military working dogs

STORY BY RANDY ROUGHTON PHOTOS BY STAFF SGT. VERNON YOUNG JR.

20 January 2015

OOlaf leaps over Staff Sgt. Sharif DeLarge, a military working dog handler from the 802nd Security Forces Squadron, during a controlled aggression exercise at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. DeLarge and military working dog handlers assigned to JBSA-Lackland fulfill daily law enforcement requirements or train to remain mission-ready.

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[EDITOR’S NOTE: Names of dogs produced in the Department of Defense Military Working Dog Breeding Program begin with double capitalized letters.]
Saliva slides down OOlaf’s tongue, his eyes focused intently on Staff Sgt. Sharif DeLarge as the military working dog waits for the command. When DeLarge gives the word, the Belgian Malinois leaps several feet in the air, clenching his jaws around his prey – the wrap on his handler’s arm.
Had this been an actual suspect, OOlaf wouldn’t have released his grip until DeLarge gave the word. In this exercise, OOlaf demonstrated all three characteristics the Department of Defense Military Working Dog Breeding Program looks for in its dogs – predatory behavior, boldness in sociality and a willingness to work in any environment, whether dark, noisy or with any other distractions.
OOlaf, who was born in the breeding program’s fourth OO litter at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, is the son of RRespect and a male stud dog named FFalcor. But OOLaf, who is affectionately called “Laffers” by his handlers, is more than just another highly motivated working dog. He, his parents ,, and RRespect’s sister UUkita, are also important links in a bloodline of high-quality dogs in DOD breeding.

OOlaf waits for instruction from Staff Sgt. Sharif DeLarge, a military working dog handler from the 802nd Security Forces Squadron, during a controlled aggression exercise at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. DeLarge and military working dog handlers assigned to JBSA-Lackland fulfill daily law enforcement requirements or train to remain mission-ready.

This link is partially responsible for the program’s shifting focus from obtaining breeding dogs overseas and other sources to producing more breeding dogs themselves, said Dr. Stewart Hilliard, the 341st Training Squadron’s chief of military working dog evaluation and breeding flight.
The MWD are like other Airmen or Soldiers in the fight. They even have their own equivalent of a dog tag –identification tattoos inside their left ears. But just like there are some service members more prone to heroics than others, there’s something that sets the breeding dog apart from its peers – the bloodline.
To describe the difference between a typical MWD and a dog set apart for breeding, Hilliard uses the analogy of the difference between a typical Army private first class and a special forces Soldier, who has the unique genetics, physical, temperamental and character features to do a job most cannot.
“There are two ranges in the quality of a dog,” he said. “There is the dog that is the fine animal that is useful for military working dog service. But there is a quality of dog above that, which is one big working order above the common military working dog. This is the dog whose drive is stronger, whose nerves are stronger and whose courage is higher.”

UUkita, a military working dog with the 802nd Security Forces Squadron, gave birth to eight puppies at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. The puppies will be kept in a secure location to prevent sickness before training the dogs for military work. When the dogs are mature enough to train, they will filter through a selection process to determine which dogs are qualified for military work.

RRespect was the result of a breeding between a Belgian-bred Malinois male from France with a DOD-bred female in 2010, which resulted in the program’s best litter to date, Hilliard said. The mating was repeated with the U litter later that year. Because females RRespect and UUkita, from the second litter, were representative of the superior genetics of their older siblings, they were kept for breeding, as well as frozen semen from a couple of the males.
“What’s special about RRespect and UUkita is they come from a very strong family,” Hilliard said. “When you look at their brothers and sisters, many of them are high-quality dogs. That means I know the family. The family is very high in quality, and they are very good bets, about as good bets as a dog breeder is ever going to have, for the kind of dog that, when bred properly, will produce more high-quality dogs.”
RRespect and UUkita, who have already produced five litters between them, are just two of 22 breeding females in the program, along with two standing stud dogs: FFalcor and OOlaf. But the program also has access to many other male dogs, including some privately owned males in Holland and The Netherlands, and between 10 to 14 others through frozen semen. Some of these dogs are long dead, but one produced SSheila, which recently birthed her own litter. Areas overseas ravaged by disease and instability could disrupt the program’s MWD supply.

UUkita, a military working dog with the 802nd Security Forces Squadron, feeds her litter of puppies at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. UUkita, gave birth to eight Belgian-bred Malinois puppies. The puppies will be kept in a secure location to prevent sickness before training the dogs for military work. When the dogs are mature enough to train, they will filter through a selection process to determine which dogs are qualified for military work.

Circumstances overseas may eventually make raising quality dogs even more important. Areas that are politically unstable, plus those that have become ravaged by disease, can wreak havoc on the program’s supply of MWDs, Hilliard said.
“A situation where we get all of our supplies from overseas, particularly from parts of the world that could conceivably become unstable, could disrupt our supply of military working dogs,” Hilliard said. “Also, potentially, disease concerns could affect our supply of military working dogs. There are a number of factors that are beyond our control that could rather suddenly and catastrophically interrupt our supply of military working dogs.”
Almost two decades ago, DOD foresaw this problem on the horizon, which was the reason the breeding program was founded in 1998 — so the department would eventually have the capability to produce its own breeding dogs. Currently, the program is producing 15 percent of its MWD inventory, Hilliard said.
“But that means we know how to do it. We have the facilities, we have the techniques and we have the genetic material,” he said. “So if suddenly our supply of military working dogs overseas were interrupted, we would be in a position to ramp this program up to produce a larger proportion of military working dogs.”
While the breeding program’s focus has moved toward breeding more of its own dogs, the end result remains producing what’s known as dual-purpose dogs – those that are proficient in both substance detection and patrol, Hilliard said.
“We also try to supply for DOD first-class dogs, dogs of extremely high quality, because it’s hard to buy a first-class dog in the open market,” Hilliard said. “Everybody wants that dog, and DOD doesn’t pay the highest prices.
“So one of the points in having a breeding program is because if the litter is ours, and there is an absolutely stupendous dog in that litter, we get that dog because we bred them. So it’s a way for us to get top-quality dogs.”

Staff Sgt. Sharif DeLarge, a military working dog handler from the 802nd Security Forces Squadron, braces for impact during a controlled aggression exercise with JJany at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. Devine and military working dog handlers assigned to JBSA-Lackland fulfill daily law enforcement requirements or train to remain mission-ready.

MWD handlers see the effects of the breeding efforts in the FFalcor bloodline in their own dogs. At least, DeLarge sees the qualities of a supreme working dog in OOlaf.
“I can tell you that physically, he’s an agile, fast, strong and hard-hitting dog,” said DeLarge, an 802nd Security Forces Squadron MWD handler. “His detection capabilities are spot on, which is essentially the most important job he has as a military working dog. I have no doubt in my mind that he has one of the best noses in the kennel when it comes to detection.
“OOlaf’s desire to please me as his handler is especially exceptional when it comes to any task I give him. In a sense, he is the definition of an impeccable military working dog, and all of these attributes make him nothing less than perfect for the breeding program.”
The breeding program produces an average of 11 litters a year, but several litters since the program’s inception have proven to be more influential than the others, in terms of producing the bloodline that Hilliard has been searching for. Two litters born in 2001 and 2002, called the A1 and C1 litters, were the combination of a female named Boyca and a male named Rico.
“Boyca was the beginning of everything,” Hilliard said. “She produced dogs better than we had any right to expect. This was the beginning of our success.”
About seven years ago, a union between OOri and a Dutch shepherd named Kim produced a number of quality males, including FFalcor. Eventually, FFalcor replaced Arnold as a stud dog and sired the litter that produced OOlaf.

Staff Sgt. Mark Devine prepares to release JJany during a controlled aggression exercise at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. Devine is a , a military working dog handler assigned to the 802nd Security Forces Squadron. Military working dog handlers assigned to JBSA-Lackland fulfill daily law enforcement requirements or train to remain mission-ready.

The bloodline represented by dogs like RRespect, UUkita and OOlaf is expected to produce generations of dogs to come for the breeding program, Hilliard said.
“Hopefully, what will happen is in the next several years, I will develop a large pool of dogs that are sons and daughters of UUkita and RRespect and other females that are related to each other in varying degrees. In each case, what we have done is probe the results of taking our bloodline and mixing it with another bloodline of very high-quality dogs, looking for where we should go in the future to produce the best dogs for us.”
MWD breeding specialists believe that several decades of establishing its own bloodline   will lead to more success on producing the type of dogs that will serve the DOD the best in the future.

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- See more at: http://airman.dodlive.mil/2015/01/quality-breeding/#sthash.mjlk26WW.dpuf

Impossible Rescue: Author Tells Story of Adventure of WWII Plane Crash Survivors in New Guinea

IMPOSSIBLE RESCUE

Author tells story of adventure of WWII plane crash survivors in New Guinea

STORY BY RANDY ROUGHTON

26 January 2015

Lt. John McCollum poses for a photo with some Dani natives. (Courtesy photo/Mitchell Zuckoff)

In author Mitchell Zuckoff’s hands is a piece of melted metal, a fragment of 70-year-old mangled wreckage that remains in a valley in New Guinea where a C-47 Skytrain crashed into a mountain in 1945. He twirls the object he describes as “a gnarled human form,” as he considers it a symbol of loss, a miraculous rescue and the meeting of two vastly different cultures in a virtually forgotten story from World War II told in his book, “Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II.”
An article in the newspaper archives diverted Zuckoff’s attention about five years ago from another book project to a remote valley in what was then Dutch New Guinea populated by primitive, cannibalistic natives. The article told about a near-impossible rescue mission of three U.S. servicemembers who had miraculously survived the crash.
Zuckoff tracked down the only surviving key player in the story at a retirement home in Oregon and got his hands on journals, photographs and scrapbooks of the adventure, but it was an interview with the son of the Dani tribesman who befriended the survivors that got the former Boston Globe reporter even more excited about the project.

Dani tribesmen look at photos author Mitchell Zuckoff brought during his visit to the valley in 2010 for research on his book, “Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II.” (Courtesy photo/Mitchell Zuckoff)

During his visit to what is now the Baliem Valley in New Guinea, Zuckoff showed Helenma Wandik a photo of the village leader the survivors called “Pete,” who befriended them after the plane crash. The man turned out to be Wandik’s father, and Wandik gave the author the Dani people’s perspective of the story. Zuckoff was so enthralled by the interview that he put the transcript on a thumb drive and went to nearby Wanema and sent it to his agent, his wife and his closest friend, along with some rather urgent instructions.
“I told them, ‘This is so priceless that, God forbid, if something happens to me, somebody else has to finish this book,’” Zuckoff said. “‘And you have to include this guy’s perspective, even if you include nothing else from my trip here.’ That was how valuable I thought this was, that it was just priceless stuff.”
In 2010, Zuckoff and guide Buzz Maxey visited the mysterious valley surrounded by steep mountain peaks the 24 servicemembers on board the C-47 on May 13, 1945 knew as “Shangri-La.” It was first called that by two war correspondents, who borrowed the name from James Hilton’s 1933 novel, “Lost Horizon.”
Five days after V-E Day that celebrated the end of the war in Europe, the C-47, called the Gremlin Special, left the base in Hollandia on New Guinea’s northern coast about 2:15 p.m. on a morale flight over Shangri-La. It crashed into a mountain near the valley entrance 45 minutes later, killing all but six instantly. Three others died of their injuries, leaving only three survivors – Lt. John McCollum, whose twin brother died in the crash, Sgt. Kenneth Decker and Women’s Army Corps Cpl. Margaret Hastings. Decker hurt his head badly in the crash, and Hastings suffered blistering burns on her face, feet and legs.

Cpl. Canilo “Rammy” Ramirez, Women’s Army Corps Cpl. Margaret Hastings, and Sgt. Benjamin “Doc” Bulatao pose for a photo after the Filipino-American paratroopers dropped in from the sky to help the survivors. This photo was contributed by the late Capt. C. Earl Walter Jr., who commanded the paratroopers. (Courtesy photo/Mitchell Zuckoff)

Hastings’ friend, Laura Besley, was one of the three who died after the crash. Hastings’ diary proved invaluable for Zuckoff’s book, as evidenced by her expression of emotions after the death of her friend. All Hastings could think about were her friend’s shoes because of the severe burns on her feet.
“I ought to have cried,” Hastings wrote. “I just sat there in shock, and all I could think was, ‘Now the shoes belong to me.’”
“As a writer, the mistake would have been to try to bring up the violins because that’s not how she wrote it,” said Zuckoff, now a journalism professor at Boston University. “She wrote it with such simple power. She knew she should cry. She knew she should feel bad and mourn her friend’s loss. But at that moment, she needed those shoes to survive. I felt it was so real. She wasn’t trying to make herself seem like a better person than she was. That was a key moment for me. I remember thinking from my first time reading the diary that I really understood the kind of person Margaret must have been to write it that way, and that was really magical.”
Three days after the crash, the three survivors reached a clearing, where they were spotted by a search plane, and they first encountered natives from the Uwambo village. This was a pivotal moment because neither side knew what to make of the other. The natives hadn’t yet discovered the wheel and knew of no number higher than three, but they also believed in an old legend that predicted white ghosts would visit and signal the end of the world. This superstition saved the survivors’ lives.

Capt. C. Earl Walter Jr. (left) and Lt. John McCollum, one of the three survivors of the Gremlin Special crash in 1945, examine a native jawbone they found on a hike. Walter commanded the Filipino-American paratroopers in the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion who descended on the valley to help the three survivors of the May 13, 1945 crash of the C-47 Skytrain. (Courtesy photo/Mitchell Zuckoff)

McCollum met the village leader on a log over a small gulley and ordered Decker and Hastings to stand and smile, and they offered the only food they had – candies called Charms. Soon, they were shaking hands with the natives.
“I remember my feeling the first time I learned of that moment, like it could have gone so badly,” Zuckoff said. “Another man, a guy who just wanted to be macho, or maybe who just misread the situation could have gotten them all killed, and that would have been the end of the story. It was an incredible moment, where everybody’s got to trust. Everybody’s got to decide what am I going to do on this log? Am I going to push the other guy off the log, or am I going to meet him halfway? Am I going to reach out my hand, or am I going to reach out my weapon? For me, that was absolutely a pivotal moment in telling, for me, what was the subtext of the book – the shared humanity of this story.”
The U.S. Army Air Forces knew rescue was going to be difficult. There was no place to land an airplane in the valley, and helicopters were out because the air was too thin. Also, thousands of Japanese soldiers lay in hiding between the survivors and the sea. A group of Filipino-American paratroopers in the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, led by Capt. C. Earl Walter Jr. descended on the valley to help the survivors while the Army worked a seemingly crazy rescue mission that involved Waco CG-4A gliders being towed by a C-47. The paratroopers had a simple motto: “Come what may.”

Native Dani tribesmen help push the C-47 Skytrain into position for a snatch attempt of a glider in a photo from the late Capt. C. Earl Walter Jr.’s collection. (Courtesy photo/Mitchell Zuckoff)

Zuckoff found Walter in Oregon, and his recollections, coupled with Hastings’ diary, form the core of “Lost in Shangri-La.”
“I feel like I know (the paratroopers) through Earl,” Zuckoff said. “When he told me about them, it was so clear that he had such love for them, the kind of love between men who served together and did something extraordinary. He had such admiration for them, and it was easy for that to rub off on me.
“These guys were committed to doing something in this war. The way young men can be, they were chomping at the bit to do their part. So this mission came up – an impossibly low jump into terrible, swirling winds, and not knowing if you would be met by a hail of arrows and spears on your way down. The story has been embraced by the Filipino-American community who love the story because they feel the bravery of the Filipino-American hasn’t been told. I feel very fortunate and privileged to have been able to make that part of the book.”
Walter, who was 88 when Zuckoff interviewed him, died in February 2014.
While the paratroopers were helping the survivors, Col. Ray T. Elsmore was directing the most unconventional rescue effort. Zuckoff describes the 322nd Troop Carrier Wing commander as “a cowboy with a can-do sense of mission,” and he eventually proved it with the rescue by glider in Shangri-La. The glider would land in the valley, then be snatched into the air by a hook attached to a C-47 flying less than 20 feet from the ground. It would take three missions to rescue the three survivors and paratroopers.

In 2010, author Mitchell Zuckoff visited the valley, including the site where 21 of 24 passengers on the Gremlin Special died during the May 13, 1945 crash, for research on his book, “Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II.” (Courtesy photo/Mitchell Zuckoff)

“It was completely crazy,” Zuckoff said. “There’s no way this should have worked. In several of the tests, everything was going wrong at sea level in near-perfect conditions. I’m still in awe of this decision. The craziest thing to me was they had to do it three times.”
By the time they were rescued, a legendary warrior named Yali Logo was plotting with tribesmen to kill the survivors and paratroopers.
Zuckoff treasures the relationships he’s developed with many of the people he interviewed for the book like Walter and McCollum’s widow. But nothing comes close to the emotions he felt while visiting the place where the Gremlin Special crashed in Shangri-La.
“I’ve been a reporter for a long time, and I’m not a soft touch,” he said. “I don’t believe in false emotion. But having spent as much time as I had researching these people, I could tick off each one of the names from memory and each one of their stories. Being up there, digging through that mud and coming across a piece of human remains, it really set me back and knocked me on my heels a little bit.”
The piece of metal has remained on Zuckoff’s desk since his return from Shangri-La, and he expects it will stay there for the rest of his life.

- See more at: http://airman.dodlive.mil/2015/01/impossible-rescue/#sthash.QwKYnkr9.dpuf