Originally Posted by allbaugh_04

The aircraft maintainer is a sharp, witty, overworked, underpaid,
overzealous, late teens, early 20's kid who serves proudly every single
day. He loves the military even though he swears he will not re-enlist.
His hands seem to always be dirty, and a lot of the time will have
grease or some sort of black residue on his face. He works outside in
the elements day in and day out, and envies those who work in the air
conditioning, while thinking of them as less of a person. But he knows
that they could not do his job. He knows he could not do theirs either.
He rarely has to look at his Job Guide or T.O. to get the job done
right. He is confident in his work and will not leave until he is
certain that everything is done right, or has turned over to someone he
knows will do it right.



He can perform the most tedious, mind stressing jobs on a multi-million
dollar turbine engine and not forget to do the smallest of task, but
always has bolts left over when he works on his own car. He keeps the
cockpit cool for the pilot, only to go home to his dorm room that is
blazing hot and can't figure out how to fix it. He does his best work
with a pilot in the seat and the flying window closing, but he hates
when people watch over his shoulder. He sleeps until he knows he
absolutely has to get up or he will be late to work, but ensures that
the planes take off with time to spare. He doesn't understand the
saying
"Have a great Air Force day" because the only time he has one is when
he
begins his leave from the Air Force.



The maintainer is a master of wits. Can make you laugh or cry at the
drop of a hat. He has been at the butt of jokes and has made people
feel
like an ***. On the job he builds a reputation of being the best
mechanic, in the truck he builds his reputation as the class-clown,
jokester, funny-guy. In a war of words he can duke it out with the
newest guy on station, or the most senior old-timer around. If the
words
are no longer strong enough and he is challenged into a physical
"training" session he cannot back out of no matter how big his opponent
is, if he does he will be ridiculed endlessly for being scared. They
will grapple each other until one of them decides to tap out or there
is
work to be done. He is cocky, brash, arrogant, and knows everything
there is to know, but is from time to time schooled by those who have
done the job longer than he's been alive, and still believes that they
don't know what the **** they are talking about. Oh yea he also has a
foul mouth. He is somewhat of a rebel, but can follow orders like a
Marine.



He is not considered a Soldier by the Army, but more than civilian to
those who don't serve. Some people hold him on a pedestal, some people
don't even know there are such things as Aircraft Maintainers. Though a
lot of his hard work is overlooked, and sometimes un-noticeable, he
knows he's made a difference. Colonels, and Chief's blindly praise him,
as they don't know the first thing about being a mechanic, but he
doesn't care when they pat him on the back, because the best feeling he
gets is when a friend or a Sergeant directly above him recognizes the
hard work he put in. To a maintainer, work is second nature, he loves
his time off, but after doing details around the base for a week, or
filling in for a desk-job, as much as he hates to admit it, deep down
he
misses the life of a Maintainer.



This is what it is like to be an Aircraft Maintainer.





Parts to fix the aircraft: Millions of dollars

Tools to put the parts in: Hundreds of thousands of dollars

An Aircraft: Millions if not Billions of dollars

The feeling a maintainer gets walking home at sunrise, after a night he
thought would never end: Priceless



Remember that it only takes a High School Degree to fix the Aircraft,
and a College Degree to break it, or maybe just a pissed off Crew Chief
with a red pen.

Originally Posted by allbaugh_04

The aircraft maintainer is a sharp, witty, overworked, underpaid,
overzealous, late teens, early 20's kid who serves proudly every single
day. He loves the military even though he swears he will not re-enlist.
His hands seem to always be dirty, and a lot of the time will have
grease or some sort of black residue on his face. He works outside in
the elements day in and day out, and envies those who work in the air
conditioning, while thinking of them as less of a person. But he knows
that they could not do his job. He knows he could not do theirs either.
He rarely has to look at his Job Guide or T.O. to get the job done
right. He is confident in his work and will not leave until he is
certain that everything is done right, or has turned over to someone he
knows will do it right.



He can perform the most tedious, mind stressing jobs on a multi-million
dollar turbine engine and not forget to do the smallest of task, but
always has bolts left over when he works on his own car. He keeps the
cockpit cool for the pilot, only to go home to his dorm room that is
blazing hot and can't figure out how to fix it. He does his best work
with a pilot in the seat and the flying window closing, but he hates
when people watch over his shoulder. He sleeps until he knows he
absolutely has to get up or he will be late to work, but ensures that
the planes take off with time to spare. He doesn't understand the
saying
"Have a great Air Force day" because the only time he has one is when
he
begins his leave from the Air Force.



The maintainer is a master of wits. Can make you laugh or cry at the
drop of a hat. He has been at the butt of jokes and has made people
feel
like an ***. On the job he builds a reputation of being the best
mechanic, in the truck he builds his reputation as the class-clown,
jokester, funny-guy. In a war of words he can duke it out with the
newest guy on station, or the most senior old-timer around. If the
words
are no longer strong enough and he is challenged into a physical
"training" session he cannot back out of no matter how big his opponent
is, if he does he will be ridiculed endlessly for being scared. They
will grapple each other until one of them decides to tap out or there
is
work to be done. He is cocky, brash, arrogant, and knows everything
there is to know, but is from time to time schooled by those who have
done the job longer than he's been alive, and still believes that they
don't know what the **** they are talking about. Oh yea he also has a
foul mouth. He is somewhat of a rebel, but can follow orders like a
Marine.



He is not considered a Soldier by the Army, but more than civilian to
those who don't serve. Some people hold him on a pedestal, some people
don't even know there are such things as Aircraft Maintainers. Though a
lot of his hard work is overlooked, and sometimes un-noticeable, he
knows he's made a difference. Colonels, and Chief's blindly praise him,
as they don't know the first thing about being a mechanic, but he
doesn't care when they pat him on the back, because the best feeling he
gets is when a friend or a Sergeant directly above him recognizes the
hard work he put in. To a maintainer, work is second nature, he loves
his time off, but after doing details around the base for a week, or
filling in for a desk-job, as much as he hates to admit it, deep down
he
misses the life of a Maintainer.



This is what it is like to be an Aircraft Maintainer.





Parts to fix the aircraft: Millions of dollars

Tools to put the parts in: Hundreds of thousands of dollars

An Aircraft: Millions if not Billions of dollars

The feeling a maintainer gets walking home at sunrise, after a night he
thought would never end: Priceless



Remember that it only takes a High School Degree to fix the Aircraft,
and a College Degree to break it, or maybe just a pissed off Crew Chief
with a red pen.