JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. –
Leaders from Joint Base Charleston and the local community visited the 373rd Training Squadron Detachment 5 at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, Feb. 27, 2019.
While here, they observed different aspects of what tech. school and cross-training Airmen and NATO partners learn when it comes to working on the C-17 Globemaster III.
“We want to create awareness for the unit and the scope of the impact we have on the maintenance community,” said Tech. Sgt. James Nartowicz, 373rd TRS Det. 5 production supervisor. “We really want to show the impact the people in this unit, not just the students, will have on the future of the maintenance world.”
During the tour, Nartowicz and other instructors showed their state-of-the-art simulators, hammering home the impact they have on training and instilling readiness in future maintainers.
“Showing them what we do within this unit is very important,” said Nartowicz. “We train tech. school Airmen to be able to work on multi-million dollar aircraft and want to show them the impact we have with different partner nations to teach them how to work on their own C-17s.”
While showing their classroom environments, Nartowicz also said how important it is to introduce his students to not only high ranking leaders in general, but also their possible future commanders and chiefs. Almost 50% of Airmen who train at the detachment wind up stationed as a maintainer in Charleston.
“We want to get that face time with higher leadership,” said Nartowicz. “For these newer Airmen it’s important to show them leadership’s genuine interest in their career field.”
Nartowicz said he felt the visit with leaders from the Air Base, the Citadel, Coast Guard Sector Charleston and the Naval Weapons Station went well, and he was recently able to set up future training events with the Coast Guard.
Nartowicz credited his instructors who graduated 600 Airmen last year while doling out 2,935 Community College of the Air Force credits to the graduates.