Luke Airmen

EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska--Senior Airman Richard Adamowich, 61st Fighter Squadron F-16 avionics journeyman, and Staff Sgt. Craig Bair, 61st FS F-16 crew chief, Luke AFB, Ariz., conduct preflight inspections on an F-16 April 13 here on the flightline. Airmen from the 61st FS are at Eielson in support of Red Flag-Alaska, a multi-service, multi-platform, combat-operations exercise involving the coalition forces of France and Australia. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Nora Anton)

Luke Airmen

EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska--Senior Airman Richard Adamowich, 61st Fighter Squadron F-16 avionics journeyman, Luke AFB, Ariz., does preflight inspections on an F-16 April 13 here on the flightline. Airmen from the 61st FS are at Eielson in support of Red Flag-Alaska, a multi-service, multi-platform, combat-operations exercise involving the coalition forces of France and Australia. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Nora Anton)

Cold weather can't stop desert-dwelling Airmen

Published April 18, 2007
By Airman 1st Class Nora Anton
354th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- Working in a cold-weather environment may not be in the repertoire of desert-dwelling maintainers up here for Red Flag-Alaska 07-1, but these Luke Airmen don't seem to mind and they're not about to let it affect their mission.

"To be honest, if it wasn't chilly here I would probably be disappointed," Staff Sgt. Craig Bair, 61st Fighter Squadron F-16 crew chief, said of the 30-degree April 4 weather he experienced when his team got here. "But I did think it was going to be colder."

Currently Luke AFB, Ariz., is experiencing 75- to 90-degree weather, which presents a certain hurdle for the Airmen to gather cold weather gear for their trip.

"Coming from such a warm environment as Luke, we knew we had to outfit everyone with the proper gear," said 1st Lt. Sarah Ziegler, 61st FS maintenance OIC. "Fortunately, the weather has cooperated so far."

Senior Airman Richard Adamowich, 61st FS F-16 avionics journeyman, has been to Alaska once previously and admits he likes seeing trees again compared to flat, arid desert.

The Airmen concur that the most nominal difference working in this environment is the protective gear that must be worn.

"It's amazing how fast your body acclimates itself to an environment," said Airman Adamowich. "We still have to wear a lot more gear than at Luke."

"The colder weather makes us move a little slower as far as getting all of our jackets and other clothing on," said Sergeant Bair, who is in charge of doing final checks on all the jets.

The biggest difference for Airman Adamowich is wearing gloves while he does his aircraft checks with radar and making sure the systems are all working correctly.

"The gloves really take away from your dexterity when working," he said.

Overall, the Luke Airmen say they are enjoying their trip and admit Alaska lives up to its rough reputation.

"The scenery is good," said Airman Adamowich, "but I think this place would take a lot of getting adjusted to."