Matt was transfered to the 9th Organizational Maintenance Squadron in 1989. Once he arrived there he was put on a KC-135Q as a crew chief. At this time SAC was on a big kick to have rank back on the aircraft. So even though Matt was a Master Sergeant, he was back to doing the job he did as a Senior Airman. He made several TDY's while crewing his aircraft, including one back to Kadena AB as part of the refueling support for Det. 1, the SR-71's based at Kadena AB. Matt enjoyed seeing the old island again and noticed that even though there had been some improvements, not much had changed.
After his stint as a Crew Chief, Matt was give the job as a Tanker Flightline Expeditor in charge of anywhere from 8 to 16 tankers and all the servicing and maintenance that they required. He was working for SMSgt Mike Jodrey, a very demanding but fair boss. After being an expeditor, Matt became the "Blue Flight" Flight Chief in charge of all 18 Blue Flight tankers and their maintenance personnel. In July of 1990, Matt was again challenged with a new position. This time he became a Production Supervisor (Line Chief) in charge of all maintenance and servicing on all home based KC-135Q aircraft.
While doing this job he was deployed to "Operation Desert Storm" in January 1991. He was in charge of KC-135Q maintenance during the night shift. On any given day they were flying 20 sorties with only 10 aircraft. One aircraft returned with an extruded boom sighting window. It looked as if a watermelon had been pushed into the window from the inside. The window hadn't come apart, but it was still unsafe for flight. Reaching back into his days in Repair and Reclimation shop while stationed at Kadena, Matt was able to change the window and get the aircraft off the ground to meet its scheduled mission. The KC-135Q aircraft that were from Beale AFB and assigned to the 1700 Air Refueling Squadron spent most of their time refueling the F117A fighters during the gulf war. Matt has many fond memories of his experiences during this time. It's a scary thing to think that someone is actually trying to kill you and your co-workers. Every night during the SCUD attacks, he would be reminded of this fact.
While TDY to Ryadh, Saudi Arabia, Matt lived in a 5 Bedroom villa. He shared the master bedroom with Kevin Conolly, the other night shift supervisor. They had a color TV, VCR, Microwave, Phone and all the things necessary to live like Air Force troops during a war. Matt and Kevin commuted from the villa to the air base in a Chevy Sport Astro Van with mag wheels etc. Matt returned from Desert Storm in April 1991. There was quite a crowd at Plattsburg AFB, NY where they stopped to refuel. It seemed like the whole base at Beale came out to the flightline to welcome the tanker personnel back home. Here are some pictures of the welcome:
After returning from Desert Storm, Matt was the Alert Branch Chief for the off site Alert Force at Mather AFB in Sacramento, California. He would drive a little USAF truck back and forth from Beale to Mather and back again every day. It was about a 45 minute trip one way. After President Bush fired Matt (well, actually he shut down all the alert forces, not just Matt's) Matt returned to Beale and became the Inspection Branch Chief. When the inspection branch was moved out of his squadron, Matt became the assistant Sortie Generation Flight Chief where he got to play racquetball with CMSgt Jodrey , SMSgt Marty Ringgold, and Major Tommie Thompson. They normally kicked his ass on a daily basis.
Matt earned a promotion to Senior Master Sergeant (E-8) and with the selection for promotion, he got a love letter from Headquarters that said "Congratulations on your promotion, now you gotta move!" Matt got to select from 3 bases and Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, AZ was the lesser of the 3 evils, so Matt decided to move there. It's in the desert, and it's hot, hot, hot! And the other bad part of this move was, he won't be on KC-135's anymore. Matt was going to have to learn all he could about a new airframe, C-130's! YUK! This would be the assignment that ended his career due to politics in the maintenance unit! Sour Grapes? You bet! The guy he would work for, E-8 Greg Daniels,was a LOSER! More on that store on the next page!
I'm still looking for an actual 609th OMS patch. This is just a drawing I had done for the Inactivation Ceremony for the 609th on 30 April 1992.
Take me to the DRY HEAT and the land of C-130's!