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Dedicated to Tech Reps past, present, & future; any company, any projects, any country, any time . . .
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The History of Technical Representatives and Radar (Part Two)
July 2007 - By Dave Trojan, NATEC Technical Representative Detachment Kaneohe In order to respond rapidly to fleet requirements, NAESU developed and trained teams of federal employees called Naval Engineering Technical Specialists (NETS) who are then deployed throughout the world. In addition, NAESU contracted for the services of civilian employees called Contractor Engineering Technical Services (CETS). These personnel are provided to meet technical requirements throughout the life of a weapon system. They help operating activities make better use of complex and expensive equipment furnished to them.
During the 1980's, the Naval Aviation Engineering Service Unit attracted highly motivated technically oriented people to become field engineers by offering training programs. In the Cooperative and Developmental Program students alternately attended school and worked for NAESU. They also received technical training from experienced NAESU Tech Reps in an aviation environment. Successful completions of these programs lead to employment as a developmental employee and ultimately employment at the journeyman level. The overall number of CETS peaked in 1987 with a total of 1266 contractor personnel assigned to NAESU.
The principal function of NATEC today is to provide training and assistance to enable Navy and Marine air units to operate, maintain, and repair assigned equipment. This is accomplished through engineering and technical personnel assigned to detachments co- located with military air units. Technical Representatives have taken on numerous roles including: Instructor (classroom and on-the-job), subject matter expert, mentor, analyst, and spokesman just to name a few. They provide a liaison through which technical information related to maintenance and operation can quickly be disseminated to military and civilian personnel of the Department of Defense. NATEC is chartered by NAVAIR to provide technical data services for the development and distribution of aeronautical technical information to the Navy. The Bureau of Aeronautics Radio and Electrical Section publications originally produced in April 1942 could be considered the beginnings of technical data publications. The Radio and Electrical Assembly Sheets were the ancestors of the Technical Directives currently in use today. Technical Representatives continue to work closely with the Naval Aviation acquisition and sustainment community to ensure they are up-to-speed and able to provide support immediately upon introduction of new equipment to the fleet. Technical Representatives continue to keep pace with changes in aircraft systems by attending military courses and manufacturer sponsored training to upgrade their skills. In more straightforward terms, Technical Representatives are the people who are sent out by a company to help someone understand how to use a piece of equipment that's so complicated the manufacturer has to include a human brain in every package. The Technical Representative is what passes for a human brain.
"We train Sailors on aircraft and related systems," said NATEC Officer-in-Charge Lt. Cmdr. McDonald Thomas NATEC Det Atsugi Japan. "We possess an experienced cadre of personnel who are able to provide superb technical assistance to the Navy and Marine Corps, when they experience difficulties that exceed the scope of their technicians. NATEC is funded through NAVAIR to support the fleet," he continued. "The units requesting the help do not have to pay for training or maintenance." Giving a general scenario of what they do, Thomas said, "Basically, when a ship or squadron is in the area and have either airplane, support equipment, or even ground support equipment that they cannot fix, then they come to us. Our guys go out there and show the technicians how to fix them. We also provide training, like corrosion control and how to fix airplanes that are broken, to guys in the fleet." While many service members are overseas fighting the war on terror, it can be easy to forget the people behind the scenes who work tirelessly to ensure the war fighters have everything they need to accomplish their missions. ''There have been times when a piece of equipment has been down for two weeks or more and they couldn't get it going. We would go work with them a day or less and it would be back up again,'' said NATEC Technical Coordinator Jim Fountain. ''More often than not, many of the younger Sailors just don't have the technical experience to tackle some of the tougher jobs and that's where we come in,'' he added. NATEC Technical Representatives bridge the training gap between Navy "A" and "C" schools and the needs of the aviation community by providing valuable on-the-job training on many different types of aviation equipment, support equipment and other related equipment.
Every request for assistance receives full consideration and every possible effort is made to full the requirements of all Naval and Marine aviation activity. ''The Tech Reps are always around whenever we need them. They give us the kind of hands on training that really helps us understand what we need to do,'' said P-3 Engine Mechanic AD2 Greg Sanders. ''The NATEC guys are always coming up with some new way to attack a problem. Nothing they do surprises me anymore,'' said AM3 Brad Walter, a mechanic at the Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Division. The mission of NATEC continues to be "Increase combat effectiveness by providing cost-effective engineering technical services and technical data to the Naval Aviation community." NATEC is the provider of choice for state of the art technical data products and the preferred acquisition agent for engineering technical services in support of Naval Aviation aircraft, weapons systems and support equipment. Tech Reps continue to propose maintenance procedure changes that result in large savings in dollars, technician time, and equipment. Due to extensive knowledge and experience, Tech Reps may determine that a part can be repaired at the squadron level. This avoids the cost of replacing the part and returns the aircraft to full flight status more quickly. In the process the Tech Rep also instructs the military technicians, bolstering their knowledge and reducing future incidents. Technical Representatives have come a long way from their meager start supporting radar equipment to be able to support any and all types of aviation equipment.
Just as it was in World War Two with the Airborne
Coordinating Group the same dedication to duty still reigns today. This
story is dedicated to all the Technical Representatives who have served
and to those who continue to support those who serve. |
Recently,
as an aircraft carrier steamed through the Arabian Gulf on a routine
mission. One of the carrier air wing's aircraft was in need of
maintenance. Aviation mechanics aboard the ship were in need of a little
help understanding the complexities of their particular aircraft. That's
when the men and women of Naval Aviation Technical Data and Engineering
Service Command (NATEC) were called upon. 
Currently
NATEC has about 25 officers, 30 enlisted and 400 civilians assigned to the
command. Many of the Technical Representatives have been working at NATEC
for more than 10 years and are better able to understand the complex
airborne systems and supply processes.