Faces of the Guard - Mod Team

Mod Team member upgrades some wiring

While we do quite a bit of work on our birds, most of the bigger projects are done at an Army depot level maintenance facility.  There are some exceptions to this.  We are currently upgrading some of our A model Blackhawks to A+ models with bigger engines.  The Army calls them A+'s, we call the Frankenhawks.  We actually like them quite a bit, the power of the newer models without the extra weight.  While we can swap the engines and make most of the changes necessary, this requires some new wiring to be installed.  OK, we could probably do that as well, but we had some depot level guys come out and due it for us.  Much easier.  For us, at least.  Those tubes hanging down in the back ground are only what connects the pilots controls to the rotor, so yeah it's kind of a major hassle to get at everything.

Faces of the Guard - Crew chief

SGT Tommy

Sgt Tommy is a two tour Iraq veteran, first as a gunner then as a crew chief.  Here he pauses for a photograph while performing the daily inspection on one of the Blackhawks assigned to Arizona.

Faces of the Guard - Flight Medic

SSG T

Meet Staff Sergeant T.  T deployed as a medic attached to an infantry unit in Iraq for OIF 3.  She spent that year with them doing convoy escort, searches, and whatever else the infantry unit was assigned.  She returned from a tour in Afghanistan as a Flight Medic last year, so she has her OEF medal as well. She also has been awarded her Combat Action Badge.  It  really doesn't get much more front line than that.