Maintainers and handlers; the men and women who keep them flying.

[Alpha_Echo_606]

100308-N-8655E-014 CARIBBEAN SEA (March 8, 2010) Plane captains conduct pre-flight checks on an MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron (HMH) 461 (Reinforced) aboard the multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) before flight operations off the coast of Haiti. Bataan is supporting Operation Unified Response after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake caused severe damage in and around Port-au-Prince Jan. 12. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kelvin Edwards/Released)

100304-N-9793B-003 ATLANTIC OCEAN (March 4, 2010) Sailors from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) perform firefighting training on the ship's flight deck during a mass casualty drill. George H.W. Bush, the Navy's 10th and final Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, is underway in the Atlantic Ocean supporting fleet training operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Brian M. Brooks/Released)

 

[Ken_gone_flying]

Summer 1986, we had a grueling schedule we were keeping, 1 week at sea and 4 weeks in port, it was tough to save any money.

In the summer of 1986 I was all pumped to be starting kindergarten soon.

 

[A4sForever]

.... much needed liberty in Cannes, France.

What a STUD!! You shoulda' been there 20 years earlier ('course I was w/the GATORs then ... ).

I'd have bought you a beer.

You could have bought me two ...

 

[Alpha_Echo_606]

What a STUD!! You shoulda' been there 20 years earlier ('course I was w/the GATORs then ... ).

I'd have bought you a beer.

You could have bought me two ...

Should we ever meet, I'll buy drinks all night!

 

[A4sForever]

Zumwalt 'burns ... long-ish haircuts ... beard-o's ... horn rim safety glasses.

Some of 'da best guys to ever walk the 'roof' !!! Teenagers ... just kids .... they're now old enough to be your Daddy ....

Takin' a break between cycles ...

Image by A4sForever

 

[Alpha_Echo_606]

Fine-tuning good reception
Staff Sgt. Dustin Lough inspects the VHF antenna on an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter at RAF Lakenheath, England, March 1, 2010. The VHF antenna helps aircraft communicate with other aircraft and personnel on the ground. Sergeant Lough is a communications and navigations avionics journeyman with the 56th Helicopter Maintenance Unit. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Connor Estes)

 

[Alpha_Echo_606]

Black light inspection
At the non-destructive inspection shop, Airman 1st Class Christopher Bovill pours a microscopic iron solution over a spring inside a magnetic particle machine March 9, 2010, at RAF Mildenhall, England. Airman Bovil is a NDI technician with the 100th Maintenance Group. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Jerry Fleshman)

 

[Alpha_Echo_606]

Soldiers of Company E, "Road Runners," 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, Task Force Diamond Head, re-fuel a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter at Contingency Operating Base Speicher, near Tikrit, Iraq, Feb.5. Cold re-fuel and de-fuel operations are conducted after an aircraft is shutdown. (Photo by: Staff Sgt. Mike Alberts 25th Combat Aviation Brigade Public Affairs) Photo Credit:

Soldiers from Troop E, 2nd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, Task Force Lightning Horse, re-fuel and re-stock an OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter with hot fuel and ammunition at the Lightning Horse Forward Arming and Re-Fueling Point at Contingency Operating Site Warrior, near Kirkuk, Iraq, Feb. 14. (Photo by: Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall 25th Combat Aviation Brigade Public Affairs). Photo Credit:

 

[MIDNJAC]

In the summer of 1986 I was all pumped to be starting kindergarten soon.

That made 2 of us I think I remember falling off my bike (with training wheels) and cutting my head open in the summer of '86

 

[MIDNJAC]

Zumwalt 'burns ... long-ish haircuts ... beard-o's ... horn rim safety glasses.

Some of 'da best guys to ever walk the 'roof' !!! Teenagers ... just kids .... they're now old enough to be your Daddy ....

Takin' a break between cycles ...

Image by A4sForever

You should have seen my old man's squadron pic from '78 when he was a skipper.....different world back then I guess

 

[Alpha_Echo_606]

In the summer of 1986 I was all pumped to be starting kindergarten soon.

That made 2 of us I think I remember falling off my bike (with training wheels) and cutting my head open in the summer of '86

Thanks guys, you make me feel so young.

 

[Treetop Flyer]

I was two years old in the summer of 86

 

[Alpha_Echo_606]

U.S. Navy Airman Cory Torres and Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Berlemann, both assigned to Tactical Electronic Attack Squadron 135, perform checks on an EA-6B Prowler aircraft's avionics systems aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) underway in the North Arabian Sea on Dec. 18, 2009. The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group is on deployment in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operation. DoD photo by Petty Officer 1st Class David Mercil, U.S. Navy. (Released)

 

[Alpha_Echo_606]

U.S. Air Force aerospace propulsion airmen with the 28th Maintenance Squadron work on a B-1B Lancer bomber engine at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., on Feb. 3, 2010. DoD photo by Airman 1st Class Anthony Sanchelli, U.S. Air Force. (Released)

 

[Alpha_Echo_606]

100308-G-8740Y-021 Air Station New Orleans helicopter inspection
NEW ORLEANS - Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Justin Stiehl cuts a piece of wire while performing an inspection on the main landing gear of an MH-65C Dolphin rescue helicopter at Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans March 8, 2010. Crewmembers perform the two-week inspection every 400-flight hours on all of the station's helicopters. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jaclyn Young.