MSgt. Anthony Giardini

MSgt. Anthony Giardini, 439th Security Forces Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/SrA. Kelly Galloway)

SrA. Greg Gill

“I enlisted when I was 18,” SrA. Gill said. “My grandfather was a loadmaster on the 141 Starlifter and wanted to follow in his footsteps.” When Gill left active duty and moved back home to Connecticut, he began hunting for a full time position at Westover. “I didn’t want to be completely out of the military,” Gill said. “I came onboard as a full time ART last August.” Jumping from the KC-135 to working on C-5s, Airman Gill remarked that there really isn’t much of a difference from a hydraulic point of view. “It’s a much larger aircraft so you expect more systems to have to keep up with and a lot more to work on hydraulically,” Gill said.

Air Force Academy Cadets visit Westover.

A Westover C-5 Galaxy sits on the ramp at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, Jan 27 2013. The Patriot Wing traveled to Colorado Springs Jan. 24 to pick up twenty Air Force Academy cadets for a three-day tour of Westover in Chicopee, Mass., and Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield, Mass. The cadets were able to tour Westover's regional isochronal dock, the control tower, security forces, aerial port facilities and "flew" the C-5 simulator. (U.S. Air Force photo by SrA. Kelly Galloway)

Col. Kerry Kohler, 439th Maintenance Group commander

Col. Kerry Kohler, 439th Maintenance Group commander

Colonel Steven Vautrain

439th Airlift Wing Commander

WWII Veteran, Hobert Yeager

WWII Veteran, Hobert Yeager, was drafted in 1943 and served in the Pacific Theater where he fought battles on Leyte Island with the 21st Infantry Regiment which counted 2,133 enemy kills and 14 captured prisoners (42% of the division total). He received two purple hearts from wounds incurred during the battles and was sent to help occupied Japan in late 1945.