MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 242 conducted a surge day here Jan. 12 in order to test the combat readiness of the squadron.
“A surge day tests the capability for our squadron to produce the amount of sorties we would be expected to in real life situations,” said Maj. Glenn D. Savage, VMFA(AW)-242 operations officer.“It gives us the ability to find the problem areas so at the end of the day, if something didn’t go as planned, we could figure out what went wrong, why it did and fix that for next time.”
VMFA(AW)-242 was able to launch 28 sorties using eight F/A-18s in one day while running various combat scenarios.
“The importance of a surge day is to test the squadron across the board,” said Savage. “Every section does its part, comes together in order to pull these days off as flawlessly as possible.”
A surge is an aerial assault carried out on a specified target area. Surge days test the speed and endurance possible of a squadron if they carried out a surge.
“I love this training,” said Savage. “It is what we’re here to do. We’re here to train,and not only me, but the Marines down there who catch the jet, change the oil, fuel it up, fix any problems, turn it around and send it right back out to fly again. That is what we are doing today and that is what I love about doing this.”
All of the sections give support during a surge. Every Marine has a specific job which is vital to completing the mission.
“Getting to participate in the surge day is great,” said Cpl. Justin C. Brock, VMFA(AW)-242 operations noncommissioned officer in charge.“It feels like everyone in the squadron is working together and participating in a much bigger picture.You can feel your own personal importance.”
Surge days are planned weeks in advance, with more details and information being gathered and verified as the day draws near.
“We draft up the schedule as best we can and get air crew to look at it then they tell us who needs to go where,” said Brock.“We keep bouncing it back and forth until we get a finished product that gets passed up to the operations officer so it can get signed off.”
Scheduling for the surge day started with VMFA(AW)-242 operations Marines compiling the necessary data for each sortie. “We need to get the schedule out as soon as possible so everyone in the squadron is on the same page about how the surge day is going to go,” said Brock.
Even once all paperwork is finalized, the aircraft still needed to be checked before and after every sortie, ensuring all maintenance is up-to-date.
“It is our job to be ready,” said Sgt. Wayne S. Chase Jr., VMFA(AW)-242 maintenance controller.“That is the reason we are here. We are the tip of the spear. That is the point of being in Japan and being forward deployed, to be able to go anywhere at a moment’s notice.”
Marines on the air field could be seen running to and from aircraft, some fueling and others providing maintenance, while even more Marines worked on communications to ensure the safety of the pilots and the aircraft during flight.
“Those are the guys who make it happen,” said Chase. “Nothing is going to get done without their sweat out there on the line, without them working day in and day out. It’s up to me to organize the maintenance and to lead them, but they are the ones who get the job done.”
VMFA(AW)-242 schedules surge days up to two times monthly.