NAVAIR Depot North Island aids Marines in Kuwait

By Bill Bartkus
NAVAIR Depot North Island

CORONADO, Calif. – Have tools, will travel!

Anytime, anywhere, any day.

“This is our job. It’s what we do, and we’re proud to do it,” said Kayres Stockdale, a supervisor with NAVAIR Depot North Island Field Services, Code 6.2.1. Stockdale lead a seven-man team of volunteers to Kuwait to perform an airframe change on a Miramar-based Marine Corps F/A-18 that left for a mission to the Middle East before having an airframe change.

“I knew that Field Service had to travel to Kuwait and the date was up in the air. We had to be sure that we had the tools to perform our job,” Stockdale said. He said that Field Service shipped the tools on a Friday, and the team left for Kuwait the following day. “We arrived on Sunday and immediately went to work.”

The other seven members on the Depot team included two electricians, three sheet metal workers, a mechanic, and a Quality Assurance specialist. The team slept in a barracks-type building in four-man rooms with bunk beds. “We managed, but it wasn’t the same as home,” said Stockdale.

The men were in Kuwait for 13 days.

“We worked 12- and 14-hour days,” Stockdale said, “and we were there to support our warfighters and to expedite the aircraft.”

In order to expedite the work, Stockdale said that he needed expertise. He needed to get a team on the road immediately, so he sent out information about the trip to artisans within the Depot at North Island and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. Then he started receiving calls from volunteers.

“Everyone did an outstanding job,” Stockdale said, “and they started the job with enthusiasm and ended the task the same way.” At first the team didn’t have all of the proper tools or the kit that they needed, “but the men improvised with the tools that they did have and started disassembling the aircraft,” he mentioned.

The team didn’t know it until they arrived in Kuwait, but one of the team members brought his own tools. Then the following day, the tools – that Stockdale mailed before they left the Depot – arrived at the repair site. Two days later the kits arrived.

“Once the kits arrived,” said Stockdale, “it took us four days to put the aircraft back together.”

The team worked in a “hangar” that consisted of a canopy-type tent that was in good condition.

The Depot Field Service team included Joey Baesas, Joseph Geronilla, Benjamin Snelson, Brian Trout, Donald Butler, David Martinez, Edmund Sanocki, and Donald Butler, Code 6.4.2.1, was the Quality Assurance specialist.

“Thanks to all involved in getting the getting the Field Service Modification Team out here quickly. Our location and situation here made some things difficult, but everything worked out extremely well,” said Marine Corps Maj. Kris Karnetsky, aircraft maintenance officer with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and currently deployed with Marine Air Logistics Squadron 11. “The team completed the job ahead of the estimated schedule partly because they worked long hours. The aircraft flew two days later, and there were absolutely no problems with the installation.”

Karnetsky further said, “The service was truly appreciated and enforces our continued need of a strong Depot partnership for our military needs.”

Once the team returned home to the Depot, Capt. Pete Laszcz, NAVAIR Depot North Island commanding officer, awarded them Commanding Officer’s Coins for providing emergency modification installation services and for continuously working 12- to 14-hour days in adverse conditions.

“I would gladly lead this team of professionals again,” Stockdale said.