Team Vance Marine holds unique joint position

  • Published
  • By Frank McIntyre
  • Public Affairs
Vance Air Force Base, Okla. --  As the United States Marine Corps celebrates its 231st birthday Friday, one Marine member of Team Vance reaches the midpoint of a unique position among blue suiters.

Since April, Maj. Colin Brainard has served as the 71st Flying Training Wing maintenance quality assurance evaluation functional manager. As the wing's top maintenance officer, Major Brainard oversees the six civilian and eight military evaluators tasked with assuring the quality of maintenance of the wing's aircraft fleet. He is the only Marine to serve in such a position within the Air Force.

The 11-year Corps veteran sees the rare assignment as a learning experience in the joint force climate of Vance.

"I've found comparing the Air Force way and the Marine way of doing things is often like comparing apples and oranges," the Omaha, Neb. native said. "One of the biggest differences is the Air Force has more regulations than I've been accustomed to."
The learning curves in two directions, according to Senior Master Sgt. Dieter Halper, 71st FTW chief of aircraft maintenance QAE.

"This is a good joint relationship. Major Brainard has an excellent understanding of the maintenance support for the wing mission and brings a different outlook to it," Sergeant Halper said.

"The rest of us in QAE have Air Force backgrounds so we gain an understanding of the Marine maintenance operations. I'm very impressed with what he brings to the table," said the 22-year Air Force maintainer.

Although new to the maintenance leadership position, Major Brainard is very accustomed to Vance. He attended Joint Specialized Undergraduate Training here in 1997 and had been assigned to the 33rd Flying Training Squadron as an instructor pilot, flight commander and assistant director of operations before assuming his current duties.

Before arriving at Vance, Major Brainard was assigned to Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C. He has been deployed three times during his career, most recently in 2003 to Al Jabar, Kuwait with the tactical command center of the 3rd Marine Military Air Wing.

Joining Major Brainard on his relocation to Vance in June 2004 was his wife Amanda. The couple met while she was attending graduate school at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Mrs. Brainard is the grant administrator for the city of Enid.

The Marine Corps birthday soon will not be the only November birthday celebrated by the Brainards. They are expecting their first child any day between now and November. This spring the newly-expanded family is scheduled to transfer back to MCAS New River where he will fly the V-22 Osprey.

In addition to his MA duties, Major Brainard also still serves as an instructor pilot with the 33rd and as the base's senior Marine representative. Vance currently hosts 26 Marines.
In the Marine representative role, he invites everyone to join in celebrating at the 231st U.S. Marine Corps Birthday Ball Nov. 18 at the Continental Center, 302 N. Independence, Enid.

The evening's events include an open bar, dinner, ceremony with guest speaker and dancing. Uniform depends on branch of service with black-tie for civilians. Tickets are now on sale for $30 per person and seating is limited. For more information, call Marine Sgt. Michael Rodriquez at 213-6457.