Downrange: Our Airmen’s perspective – part 7 of series Published April 28, 2009 By Tech. Sgt. Kevin Wallace 436th AW Public Affairs DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. -- Rank/Name: Staff Sgt. Jonathan Hollenbeck Unit: 436th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Deployed Unit/Location: Southwest Asia Hometown: Ashburnham, Mass. Describe your job at your deployed location: My primary job here is to support mobility missions. Since my arrival, I've had my hands on more than 300 different aircraft from a wide assortment of allied nations. What was one of the most memorable experiences? In February, during a maintenance recovery team mission to Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, a C-5 Galaxy thrust reverser was found to be faulty. At that point, my command deployed me forward to repair the thrust reverser. Though we have a vital mission here in Southwest Asia, being forward deployed to perform the repairs in Afghanistan was really exciting; it felt good to be where the rubber met the road, to make an aircraft mission capable in the middle of perhaps the most volatile country in the region. How did your job at Dover prepare you or relate to your deployed duties? In my daily duties at Dover, I am a jet engine mechanic, responsible for the upkeep of the TF-39 Turbo Fan engines. The missions coming through Dover are non stop and, as such, at Dover we learn to work at a blistering pace. I carried this same mind set and work ethic with me over here, and that really helped prepare me for the unparalleled number of aircraft that come through Southwest Asia. How did Dover's airlift mission affect your deployed mission and/or quality of life there? Since I am working in a capacity similar to AMC here, I see what we do as an extension of what Dover does. We are more or less another link in the gigantic air bridge. Still, each link of the bridge is as important as the next. Unless you've been part of the mobility machine downrange, it may be hard to grasp this 'air bridge' concept. Let me word this in a way anyone living in the Dover area can visualize. Could you imagine leaving Dover for a weekend outing to Washington D.C., and when you get to the Bay Bridge, discovering the final section of the bridge was missing? We are the final link of the air bridge to Iraq and Afghanistan.