ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Don’t let the name fool you.
Tech. Sgt. LaDarrion Holloway said the acronym, HARM, for the Host Aviation Resource Management office, often has people scratching their heads in confusion.
“A lot of folks ask us all the time what we do,” said the 78th Operations Support Squadron, HARM Flight chief. “Our sign on the door reads HARM, yet everything we do is to keep Airmen out of harm’s way.”
Aviation resource managers are behind the scenes working to keep aircrew members safe.
“We have a large number of aircrew members we are responsible for on this base,” said Holloway. “We are in charge of initiating their aeronautical orders. Every flyer, jumper and anyone on the flight team has to be cleared medically and physiologically.”
HARM tracks a variety areas, such as flying qualifications, health assessments, special pay data and making sure Airmen are combat ready.
“It comes down to ‘go’ or ‘no-go’,” said Senior Master Sgt. Tori Lockhart, 78th OSS HARM superintendent. “If an Airman is missing certain documents, training or medical checkup, we are the ones who have to keep them grounded until we get them cleared. We go through training documents and medical records with a fine-tooth comb.
“God forbid there is an accident because someone is up in the air and they shouldn’t be. We have a lot of responsibility and lives on the line when each flight takes off,” Lockhart continued. Plus, those are multi-million dollar aircraft we need to be good stewards of.”
Holloway said the job can be tedious with so much data to track. But even so, he urges flight team members to call the HARM office with their concerns.
“Our job is to keep them in the sky where they do their jobs,” said Holloway. “Call us, so you can always be ready for takeoff.”