Aircraft Maintenance Chief

“As maintenance chief, you own the maintenance operation of a Marine aviation squadron — leading the Marines who keep the aircraft flying, managing the maintenance programs, and being personally responsible to the CO for squadron readiness. It's the senior enlisted authority for everything that happens in the hangar. The aviation industry will compete for an experienced maintenance chief who knows how to run a complex maintenance organization.”

You will be the first person the CO calls when readiness drops and the last person to leave the flight line when a deadline is approaching. Maintenance chiefs live at the intersection of technical authority and leadership responsibility — the Marines in the shop depend on your technical judgment, and the CO depends on your management of the shop. When an aircraft has a grounding discrepancy at 0200 before a 0600 flight schedule, you will know about it personally. The maintenance management depth you develop over a career in Marine aviation is directly applicable to airline maintenance control centers, MRO facility management, and defense aviation contractor program management. The FAA doesn't have a certification for "someone who can make a complex maintenance operation work under pressure," but that's what you've been doing.