Dedicated crew chiefs will now have their names on the Air Mobility Command aircraft they work on due to a policy change that overhauled the rules in place for the past 20 years.
The first names to appear on AMC aircraft under the new policy were affixed to a C-5M Super Galaxy and C-17 Globemaster III and were revealed Oct. 4 during a ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the Air Force said.
“One of my main goals when I became the DCC manager for the 436th AMXS was to gain the approval to have the DCC names on the nose of our aircraft,” said Tech. Sgt. Anthony Carter, 436th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron DCC program manager, in an Air Force news release.
“The sense of pride I felt when I was assigned to my first aircraft was one of the best experiences of my career and will forever be instilled in my memory,” said Carter, who enlisted in the Air Force in August 2005. “That’s how I believe our airmen feel when they are assigned to an aircraft and why it was so important to have the authority to place their names on the exterior of the aircraft.”
The previous policy mandated that AMC aircraft be sanitized before entering the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, which made it impractical to put crew chief’s names on aircraft that frequently moved in an out of the AOR.
The new guidance specifies that it’s unnecessary to sanitize aircraft temporarily in the AOR for 14 days or less, according to Maj. Kevin Scholz, the 736th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron commander.
The shift has been in the works since November 2018, following the first inaugural DCC Induction Ceremony, Scholz said.
Scholz said Col. Joel Safranek, commander of the 436th Airlift Wing at Dover Air Force Base, approached him at the ceremony about the possibility of including names on the outside of the aircraft because his name was featured on his aircraft while he was serving as a captain and an aircraft commander.
That conversation is what paved the way for the policy change.
Scholz then reached out to Col. Christopher May, the 436th Maintenance Group commander, about modifying regulations in place. Per May’s suggestion, the 736th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron teamed up with the 436th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron to complete a request to Air Mobility Command.
Carter and Tech Sgt. Adam Olson, 736th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron DCC program manager, spearheaded drafting the request and sent it off to their respective commanders to make its way up the chain of command, according to the Air Force.
“Incredibly, just 10 months after Col. Safranek asked the question last November, the guidance was changed,” Scholz said. “The guidance changed to stating that if an aircraft is in the AOR for less than 14 days, it doesn’t need to be sanitized, allowing a way to keep DCC names on the outside of AMC aircraft for the first time in approximately 20 years.”
