"ISO has a specific flow of how the maintenance is accomplished to make sure everything gets completed on time," said Staff Sgt. Matthew Johnson, 7th EMS. "Day one is our de-panel day and most of the time if the jet is playing nice, we can de-panel 90 percent of the aircraft in just one day." From there, thousands of items are inspected for any discrepancies the aircraft may have and are repaired or replaced. The quality assurance shop then performs a follow-up inspection to ensure any repairs made to the aircraft were done correctly.

Once again, the tedious process of re-paneling the aircraft takes place, manually reinstalling each individual screw by hand. "We then apply hydro-power and preform an operational check out of the components that have been disconnected or replaced," Johnson said. "QA performs one last follow-up inspection and run the engines to complete the rest of our operational check outs."

The 7th EMS maintenance flight is allotted 15 to 18 duty days to complete this entire process, a objective that isn't friendly to the personal lives of these Airmen. "For us, the duty day doesn't end until the job is completed. If we get behind for some reason or we find something that requires labor intensive disassembly we will work right through the weekend to ensure everything is done correctly," Mueller said. "Our main objective is to keep the aircrew safe, keep the aircraft in the air and ensure freedom for everyone," he added. "One mistake on our part and we jeopardize that objective."

Furthermore, unlike many Airmen who move from station to station every few years, Dyess maintainers rarely leave the B-1 platform, some spending their entire Air Force careers mastering every inch of the super-sonic bomber. "This is a blue-collar, down-in-the-weeds type mission we have here," Mueller said. "The job we do isn't glamorous nor is it in the spotlight, but I could not be prouder of the men and women of the 7th EMS maintenance flight and their contribution to the freedom of the United States."