TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - Ten Airmen from the 155th Air Refueling Wing’s logistics readiness squadron conducted annual training in California Aug. 8-20.
The training helped Nebraska National Guard Airmen complete mandatory requirements by working on aircraft and machinery they typically are not exposed to back home at Lincoln Air Force Base in Nebraska.
“We went out there for an annual training opportunity and combined some deployment training with it,” said Tech Sgt. Andrew Cookston, 155th LRS assistant noncommissioned officer in charge. “We got a feel of what a busy aerial port looks like, so when we do deploy we know what to expect.”
Airmen from the 155th LRS made an immediate impact during the two weeks they were at Travis AFB. They serviced 65 planes, handled 21,798 lbs. of luggage, helped move 226,000 lbs. of cargo and loaded 114 pallets.
Staff Sgt. Jordan White, air transportation with the 155th LRS, talked about what he gained from the training.
“Something I can take moving forward from the training is working multiple aspects of the flight line because we’re just introduced to it a little bit in tech school,” White said. “I got to load a K loader, load some aircraft I’ve never touched before, and figure out the nuances throughout the day.”
Each day brought something different because the 155th LRS was spread throughout the different air transportation sections.
“We bounced around quite a bit to get that broad picture, cohesion and see how everything flows,” Cookston said. “At the end, we had a meeting with Travis leadership and talked about key takeaways.”
Leadership pointed out they were very happy to have the 155th Air Guard unit alongside their active personnel and mentioned Airmen who stood out, said Cookston. One of those Airmen was Staff Sgt. James Woodson, air transportation with the 155th LRS.
Cookston said Woodson troubleshot an issue that was causing problems, saving time and hundreds of thousands of dollars of avionics equipment and keeping the aircraft mission capable.
Training opportunities like these help traditional Guard members keep their skills sharp and learn other parts of the job.
“Annual training is very useful, especially for the Citizen-Airmen that don’t do it every day,” Cookston said. “We appreciate our leadership giving us the time, effort and funding to arrange all of this. The endeavor made it so we could go on to learn and build upon our background and foundation.”