Fifty years of heritage (edition 28) Published Dec. 14, 2011 By Eric M. White 910AW/PA YOUNGSTOWN AIR RESERVE STATION, Ohio -- The following article, taken from the Oct.-Nov. 1982 910 Flyer, adds another chapter to the story from Fifty years of heritage (edition 26). Edition 26 chronicles the preparations of the 910th to receive the C-130B aircraft and transition from the 910th Tactical Fighter Group into the 910th Tactical Airlift Group. The Oct.-Nov. 1982 issue of 910 Flyer announces that the 910th Tactical Airlift Group has achieved "combat-ready" status after a lengthy and difficult process and forecasts the challenges expected down the road. 757th overcomes obstacles We are now a combat-ready unit By MSgt. Gary Amato Staff Writer The year has come and gone and we're now the "combat-ready" 910th Tactical Airlift Group. Perhaps that says something about what we faced a year ago and what we've accomplished since then. From an operations point of view, some of the obstacles, at the time, seemed insurmountable. According to Lt. Col. Kenneth E. Gould, 757th TAS commander, "The major hurdle was getting enough crewmembers and aircraft in time to meet the deadline." Naturally, in this type of transition you're going from two-man crews to five and a totally different kind of aircraft and mission. We no longer needed munitions people, but we did need loadmasters, flight engineers and many more maintenance people. "And," Colonel Gold continued, "one of the toughest parts was the upgrading due to curriculum requirements. Another was the non-availability of short-field training facilities, which caused us to have to go Pope and Little Rock for training. Many times it was the people who were here and ready, but the weather that wouldn't cooperate, which caused a lot of problems," said Colonel Gould. Tactical training such as airdrops and low level flights couldn't be accomplished due to inclement weather. A shortage of school slots didn't help matters either. One of the ways we were able to meet some of the requirements was to recruit people who were already combat qualified in the C-130's. If it hadn't been for that fact, we may not have made it. Colonel Gould feels we still have one of the biggest hurdles to jump and that's the ORI and Stan Eval. "Once we get through those successfully, we will become more productive in carrying out the MAC mission", said Colonel Gould. When asked what he felt had been the biggest factor in the unit's success, he replied, "What really made it work was a lot of dedicated people at all levels who made many sacrifices to get trained and make it happen." Hopefully this trend will continue and we'll pass the ORI and Stan Eval without any real problems.