What Does a Munitions Maintenance Squadron Commander Really Do?



By Col (Ret) Larry Chandler and Lt Col (Ret) Brian Withrow

What does a Munitions Maintenance Squadron commander really do? Think back and remember what made your best squadron commander the best? What did that commander do that was so special? We “old-timers” talked about this topic and what follows is a discussion of our collective experiences.

First, we can’t start this discussion about the MMS commander until after we have talked about the top of the old maintenance food-chain. The Deputy Commander for Maintenance (DCM) was “God”. The DCM knew all there was to know about maintenance and if you could survive morning standup (for which we were all seated) then it was going to be a good day. Surviving meant one of two things, either you had not been called on to answer a question or miraculously you were called on but had a good answer (a right versus wrong answer). In our days, as opposed to today, “I don’t know” was not a good answer. As BGen Atkinson wrote in a recent Exceptional Release (EA) article, if your boss asks you what is the population of Australia and it is not your job to know the answer, then “I don’t know” is OK. But if your boss asks you what the munitions loads are for tomorrow’s flyers… it is NOT ok to say “I don’t know.” It is your job to know---and to know all the preparation and planning have been done right.

Now of course even “back then” many DCMs did not know all there was to know about maintenance. Many were pilots who were out of flying duties for whatever reason and were colonels, so they had to be somewhere and maintenance was available? But we don’t sell these colonels short because remember these colonels had been “consumers” of maintenance and even though they might not have been knowledgeable about how maintenance was done, they did recognize when the product was good and when it was bad. These colonels learned fast and always had a seasoned deputy who had done most of the jobs in maintenance or worked “in the business so long they were extremely knowledgeable. So the colonel (DCM) and his deputy were really managing the entire maintenance complex and this was their profession. What did we talk about? Was it Air Power, was it officership, was it how to get promoted to general officer… nope, it was maintenance, just maintenance.

Most of us would have been excited at the thought of being promoted to lieutenant colonel and getting to command a MMS. This is a long-long time ago in the “bad old days” when becoming a squadron commander was not the first step in the process to become a general officer… it was a dream come true and the pot of gold at the rainbows end! Few officers achieved such distinction and honor. Nobody I ever talked to was trying to hurry and finish their squadron commander job, they were practicing their argument with the DCM to let them command a larger squadron or get an assignment to command OCONUS. If you were really up for the big time, there was an extremely “outside” chance to command a MUNSS in USAFE or one of the three Aviation Depot Squadrons (you were a knowledgeable insider if you just knew what these AVDSs were), or the 400^th MMS.

So, what did MMS commanders do? They certainly knew their business and if they didn’t they did not last long. Now to be fair, this was the good old days when MMS/CCs had orderly rooms and staff, so the commander’s focus was the mission. They knew who was doing what in the squadron and they knew their strong and weak officers and assigned them accordingly. In the munitions business when things go wrong you really have a bad day. Remember that all our “stuff” is actually designed to blow up and kill people. So if you don’t follow the rules you might kill your own people and in the midst of combat operations, you might stop the entire wing or even the entire AF from accomplishing the mission. Yes, it is a very big deal to be a munitions officer. The joke use to be even the DCM might not know your name, but if munitions blow up in the storage area or on the flightline or don’t fall off the airplane as designed, or fall off the airplane when they are not supposed to, everyone will know your name, especially if you are the MMS commander.

Usually the MMS commander had been the OIC of the storage area (MSA or WSA or both), he had been a services/weapons loading/armament officer, been the OIC missiles and always had an explosives/weapons safety job (if he could not get out of it). Of course when the MMS/CC was a lieutenant he had been a MASO or had grown up with the supply officer who was one, it was the bottom of the food chain. I know this is different today. We think of the MASO as the youngest officer in the squadron but we also think the MASO is the most highly skilled and trained officer that nobody in the squadron knows what they do or how they do it (you know DIAMONDS---ooh aah, is such complicated software/hardware?). There was a time when we all had to the be the MASO as a rite of passage and every officer up our MMS chain of command had already done that job done this operation before, I was confident they would perform well without the need of my direct supervision.”

This is the condensed version of the mishap story, but suffice it to say that when I, Maintenance Supervision, QA, and Armament Flight leadership convened to reflect on the lessons learned from the investigation, we all agreed that the record of success that had been achieved with much effort had a down side; overconfidence and complacency were creeping in.  In our business the need to stay vigilant never ends. The Group and Wing Commander’s confidence was understandably shaken. The young airman required multiple surgeries and did recover, but I shutter to think that he could have been killed. Moral of the story…don’t let your guard down even when all appears excellent, expect the unexpected from unexpected places, and as a wise President Reagan put it… always “trust but verify.” lchandler@avesllc.com