Aviano shows maintenance training to Romanian, Bulgarian Airmen

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Julius V. Delos Reyes
  • 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy --  In an effort to improve an already established military relationship, Team Aviano hosted a familiarization event with the Romanian and Bulgarian air forces April 12 to 16.

The purpose of the event was to provide a learning experience for the Romanian and Bulgarian airmen on how the 31st Maintenance Group trains and develops its Airmen from the lowest rank to senior NCO level, as well as the base process on managing aircraft maintenance.

"They want to know how the U.S. Air Force can help them develop an effective training plan," said Master Sgt. Roberto Quizon, 31st Maintenance Operations Squadron Education and Training manager and one of the briefers during the event. "They are interested in the maintenance side on how we do business."

During the weeklong familiarization event, military personnel from the Bulgarian and Romanian air forces visited various maintenance units, including Accessory, Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratory, Fabrication, Avionics, Aerospace Ground Equipment, Egress and Fuels.

"The primary objective is to familiarize them in how we do our daily job," said 2nd Lt. Katie Brozena, 31st Maintenance Squadron Fabrication Flight commander. "What details go into training our NCOs to make them more proficient and well versed in their specialty? How do we fix broken fighter aircraft? What support systems do we have to manage maintenance and to meet our mission?"

According to Romanian Capt. Constantin Pecete, Romanian air force Headquarters Fixed Maintenance officer, their mission, in addition to the maintenance NCO training program, is to develop a career for their NCOs and see what principles they can adapt to their air force.

"We are trying to buy new multi-role fighters, and with that, we have to adopt the training program because we can't maintain new aircraft with old principles of training," Captain Pecete said.

Familiarization events like this are necessary because it helps foster relationships with other NATO countries, said Maj. Malcolm Byrd, Building Partnership Command strategist from Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

"Some of (NATO countries) want to figure out how they can better operate with other NATO countries," Major Byrd said. "It is important so that when we become partner nations, we can work together as NATO allies. If we go to them, we know that the practices we use are also the ones they are using."

This training event is also important since Romania and Bulgaria are part of NATO that accomplishes specific missions, Lieutenant Brozena said.

"If we help improve a process for them, it helps the overall NATO goal," she said. "While we are doing tours and briefings, we were also building a network, a relationship with our NATO counterparts."

Lieutenant Brozena said the event went very well from showing various maintenance organizations to providing them with necessary information.

"We were able to show them our maintenance back shops and different courses that influence our NCO training," she said. "The overall feedback I received from them was extremely positive and beneficial. They enjoyed the visit."

Meanwhile, Captain Pecete only has praises for the maintenance units here.

"I think they do a great job," he said. "As far as I know, the maintenance is going great here. I hope that when we get home, we can adopt our training programs with theirs. We'll take some of the principles here and (implement) them to our regulations."