A half-dozen Aviation Resource Managers from the 353rd Combat Training Squadron have been busy up at Eielson AFB, Alaska, managing the annual Cope Thunder exercise. The ARMs are the specialists that coordinate and schedule the air-refueling, bombing, airlift, rescue, and fighter missions that are the core of the annual PACAF exercise, which just wrapped up. Lt. Col. Russell Quinn, the 22nd Fighter Squadron commander, noted that not many enlisted airmen have such an impact on the flight operations as the “one chucks” (the nickname for their career designation, 1COX2). “They make sure we make our schedules,” Quinn said.
Aircraft readiness will suffer if Congress does not approve some $1.5 billion worth of spare parts the Air Force requested in its annual Unfunded Priorities List, sent to Capitol Hill last week, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said.