In a ceremony aboard USS Carl Vinson, the Yellow Jackets of VAQ-138 were awarded the Carrier Air Wing Nine “Golden Wrench” award for their superb maintenance of the squadron’s four EA-6Bs and their tireless efforts in maintaining the highest Operation Iraqi Freedom sortie completion rate.

The Golden Wrench is given once every line period and is highly sought after and competed for by the Air Wing’s nine squadrons. The award is presented by the Carrier Air Group commander to the squadron whose Maintenance department maintains the highest standards of maintenance excellence and professionalism.

The award signified that the Yellow Jacket maintainers are the best of the best. They scored exceptionally high in a comprehensive evaluation of 15 areas of maintenance including

Full-mission-capable/mission-capable percentages, POD management, Plane Captain performance, FOD walk down participation and communication.

Throughout the evaluation, VAQ-138 demonstrated that they have the most efficient and effective maintenance program in the air wing.

VAQ-138 maintenance material control officer Lt.j.g. Troy Thurgood said, “The award means a lot considering the caliber of squadrons we were competing against. Winning the Golden Wrench is something I knew we would accomplish. It’s a tribute to the enormous talent of each and every Sailor working in one of the most challenging environments in the world. Simply put, our team of maintenance professionals did a phenomenal job maintaining combat-ready Prowlers.”

Forty-eight hours prior to the ceremony, the day before Vinson was to leave the Arabian Gulf for home, the Yellow Jackets were notified that they were going to have to send two airplanes, 12 aircrew and 33 maintainers to Al Asad air base, Iraq to continue combat operations in support of OIF. Scrambling to overcome the logistical hurdles presented to them, the Yellow Jacket Maintenance team worked around the clock to get two mission-capable jets, spare parts and maintainers ready to go in country.  With the entire squadron’s minds focused on heading home, the sudden change of schedule came as a huge surprise, but the Yellow Jacket team once again rose to the occasion.

Carrier Air Group Commander, Capt. Mike Spence, presented the award to the Yellow Jackets Commanding Officer Cmdr. Bill Jensen and Maintenance Material Controls Officer Lt.j.g. Troy Thurgood.

“Never has this award been more easy to decide who it goes to,” said Spence. “The Yellow Jackets not only took in stride the fact that they were going to have to fly several more weeks of OIF missions, after already flying them for three and a half months, they stepped up to the logistical problem presented them and solved it effortlessly.

“The Yellow Jacket team truly defines what a combat ready squadron is made of.”

While only half of the Yellow Jacket team was present for the award ceremony, there was no lack of excitement and enthusiasm among the Yellow Jackets.

Jensen told the squadron, “Never have I been more proud of leading this squadron than I am now. The feat of flying more than 1,500 combat hours in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom is in itself remarkable, but to take half of the squadron on the eve of their last OIF mission before heading home, and turn them around and send them 400 miles into Iraq is exceptional.”

While the rest of Carrier Air Wing Nine begins its transit home, VAQ-138 continues to fly combat missions out of Al Asad air base Iraq. 

The Yellow Jackets are expecting to join back up with Vinson in mid July, somewhere in the Mediterranean, and return home later this summer.