WEBVTT

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^- [Hailey] Maintainers are the in elements year-round.

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Their determination has led to groundbreaking achievements

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during a recent deployment, and built a foundation

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of trust and respect between junior maintainers

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^and their senior leaders.

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^- I love what these guys do day in and day out.

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^They're some of the hardest working individuals

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^that I know.

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^They come out here and they work in 20 degree weather.

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It might be snowing outside, they don't ever complain.

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They're some of the hardest men and women

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I've ever had the opportunity to work with.

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- [Hailey] 389th Fighter Squadron Crew Chief,

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Senior Airman Travon Taylor says he didn't think

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^he'd be such a crucial part of air operations.

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^- I never saw myself doing anything like this,

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^nothing at all.

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I was fresh out of high school, I was not entirely sure

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what maintenance I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted

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to get my hands dirty.

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I picked this jet, and fell in love with it.

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Our squadron's role in Gunfighter Flag

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is to produce quality airpower so our pilots and ops

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can be properly trained for any engagement we would have.

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- [Hailey] It's important for maintainers to pay attention

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to detail because they play a critical role

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in the Air Force mission.

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- [Travon] We put pilots in the seat every day, and their

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lives are in jeopardy, our lives are in jeopardy.

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This part deployment we broke numerous records

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for any squadron being deployed, and just having

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that feeling is just awesome, just knowing that I was

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a part of history, basically.

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- [Hailey] Reporting from Mountain Home Air Force Base,

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I'm Airman First Class Hailey Bivens.