Here is a first-person article by The (Olympia, Wash.) Olympian reporter Scott Gutierrez, who flew with aircrews from McChord AFB, Wash., on a trip to Southwest Asia. Gutierrez got to spend a week with the McChord aircrews as they flew cargo into and around the theater, stopping at Balad AB, Iraq, where he visited the combat hospital and spoke with US troops—more upbeat than not—and Iraqis working with the coalition.
With the Air Force in the midst of its biggest testing boom in decades, the Maintenance Operational Test (MxOT) Division at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., is making sure those tests include an often-overlooked perspective: that of maintainers.