Youngstown Air Reserve maintenance crew sharpens combat skills

Integrated Defense Leadership Course students take a defensive position during an engagement with opposing forces at the Slagle Drop Zone at Camp James A. Garfield Joint Military Training Center

The men and women of the Youngstown Air Reserve Station who keep those huge planes flying over the Valley and around the world know how to do more than maintain those aircraft if called upon.

For the first time, three Airmen from the Youngstown Air Reserve Station’s maintenance squadrons completed the Integrated Defense Leadership Course alongside security forces members.

The intensive two-week course has been held at the Youngstown base and nearby Camp James A. Garfield Joint Military Training Center since 2021.

The session, which ran from July 14-28, included Tech. Sgt. Joshua Garlock, Staff Sgt. Taylor Skelley, and Staff Sgt. Danielle Wiesen from the 910th Maintenance Squadron and 910th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron.

The course is designed to sharpen the combat skills of Air Force Reserve Command’s Defenders, who are the service’s security forces.

The training includes a mix of academic and hands-on exercises, such as live-fire shooting, land navigation, and tactical combat casualty care. The exercises are often physically demanding and require quick decision-making under pressure.

Wiesen, who volunteered for the course, said it helped her develop as a leader.

The participation of the three Airmen from the maintenance squadrons also highlighted how different career fields contribute to a shared mission.

“It wasn’t about my normal wrenching on the airplanes or doing aircraft systems,” Wiesen said. “It was about leading under pressure, making quick and fast, effective decisions, and working as a team in the environment we were given.”

Garlock, who previously acted as an opposing force member in a separate exercise, said the course gave him a greater appreciation for security forces.

“Every job in the Air Force is crucial, but it really puts into perspective how important security is,” he said.

Wiesen, Skelley, and Garlock watched as a C-130J Super Hercules aircraft flew an airdrop mission during the course.

Chief Master Sgt. Waylon Westbrook, the chief enlisted manager for the 910th Maintenance Squadron, said he wanted his personnel to get a better understanding of how to protect assets if needed.

“We don’t perform those tasks as our primary job,” Westbrook said, “but we should be able to communicate and help when needed.”

“It showed me that when it comes to defending the mission, whatever mission it might be, we’re all in it together,” Wiesen said. “It doesn’t matter the career field.”

At the end of the course, their fellow students offered to welcome Wiesen into the security forces if she ever decided to cross-train.

“I got to work with some amazing people during the course, established some solid connections and would take the opportunity again in a heartbeat,” she said.

The three Airmen completed the course with a three-mile graduation trek alongside their fellow students. Garlock said the experience reinforced the importance of attention to detail in his job.

“It really showed me how serious things are and how serious they can get, and I think taking that with me over to maintenance, it just reinforces that attention to detail,” he said.

Thanks to Eric M. White, 910th Airlift Wing for providing information for this story.