One letter makes a difference

Published July 21, 2011
By Tech. Sgt. Marelise Wood
352nd Special Operations Group Public Affairs

RAF MILDENHALL, England -- For a crew chief, the crowning moment of his or her career can come down to one letter; a "black letter" that says his or her aircraft has zero open-discrepancy write-ups and zero overdue inspections.

To put this into perspective, the average crew chief usually goes through his or her entire career without this ever happening.

July 6 marked the day when Dedicated Crew Chief (DCC) Staff Sgt. Julian Siapno, 352nd Special Operations Maintenance Squadron, and his assistant DCCs Senior Airmen Thomas Gillen and Eric Irizarry, also from the 352nd SOMXS, accomplished this feat. At 22, 25 and 21 years old respectively, these young men gave the 67th Special Operations Squadron aircrew about to fly a local mission in tail number 64-4854 (a 47-year-old MC-130P Combat Shadow) a history-making surprise -- a black-letter flight.

"This is a proud moment for our squadron," said Lt. Col. Anthony Babcock, 352nd SOMXS commander. "The Dedicated Crew Chief, Sergeant Siapno, has been doing a fantastic job in maintaining the aircraft with his assistants, Senior Airmen Irizarry and Gillen. We're also fortunate to be partnered with the 67th SOS, a group of real professionals who take great care of our airplanes and our people as they do the business of special operations around the European theater. "

With the age of the aircraft and the demands for their use, just keeping these aircraft air-worthy is enough of a challenge, much less attaining this black-letter status. It takes a coordinated effort within the entire maintenance squadron; from the supply Airmen who make sure parts are ordered to the schedulers who try to balance operational needs with maintenance requirements.

"It's important, especially for us as aircrew, to recognize the effort put into the aircraft by the maintainers," said Lt. Col. Shelley Rodriguez, 67th SOS commander. "With these aircraft being so old it takes time to get parts, so for them to overcome supply chain issues, the age of the aircraft and the fact that we're constantly flying them and sometimes bringing them back with more problems, is very impressive. In my 19 1/2 years I have never seen a crew chief bestow the black-letter initial on an aircraft."

Siapno, Gillen and Irizarry humbly accepted their praise and will go on conducting business as usual, but as further thanks, their commander has awarded them and the rest of the squadron a well-deserved day off.

"It's a team effort," said Babcock. "It took all these Air Commandos to get this 47-year-old aircraft to fly on the black-letter initial."