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.
The Air Force ramped up operations and maintenance spending to keep its F-35A fighters flying over the past six years, but readiness continues to lag behind goals, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.