Gavin Crofoot

Mrs. Amanda Tibbitts

Language Arts 12

8 March 2019

UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopter Repairer (15T).

Growing up in West Jordan; near the Utah National Guard base I constantly heard the

buzz of helicopters flying overhead. I have been fascinated with flight and how it works for years

now and have wanted to fly for most of my life. I want to become a pilot eventually but I also

want to know how to fix aircraft first so a UH-60 helicopter repairer also known as a 15T

(pronounced: 15 Tango) seems like a good stepping stone for me to get to my eventual goal.

Many people know that 15Ts fix helicopters and fly with them, but not many people

know much about what a 15T does. In this paper I will discuss the history of the Black Hawk,

the duties and training of 15Ts, helpful skills for 15Ts, civilian careers, pay structure, and the

pros and cons of becoming a 15T.

In the article US Army Job Profile: 15T UH-60 Helicopter Repairer, Rod Powers says

that the Black Hawk has been used in the Army since 1974. However the Black Hawk wasn’t in

formal use until 1978. The Black Hawk is also well loved and has multiple variants in all

branches of the military accept the Marines. The UH-60 Sikorsky Black Hawk is a time tested

helicopter with many years of service in its history. The Black Hawk is well loved by the United

States armed forces being used in most branches with only minor variants to fit the needs of the

branch.This matters because it gives valuable information on how long the Black Hawk has been

is service. It is a testament to how well it is working still do this day with only minor

improvements.
 Also in Job Profile several of the duties of a 15T are discussed. “All of the duties revolve

around the Black Hawk helicopter, including removing and installing subsystem assemblies such

as engines, rotors, gearboxes, transmissions, mechanical flight controls and their components.”

Powers continues to add preparing aircraft for inspections and maintenance checks, conducting

scheduled inspections, and assisting in performing special inspections, diagnosing the problems

with the aircraft, troubleshooting aircraft subsystems, filling out paperwork and acting in a

supervisor role. To the long list of duties of a 15T. All of these duties are carried out by enlisted

personnel there aren’t any jobs for officers as a 15T (UH-60 Helicopter Repairer). This matters

because 15T do a wide range of items and get many different jobs and assignments. All of these

duties require a lot of training.

Powers continues by talking about how long the training is. As with all soldiers enlisting

in the Army you have 10 weeks of Basic Combat Training, also known as BCT or Basic,

followed by another 15 weeks, close to four months, of Advanced Individual Training, know as

AIT. During AIT some skills you will learn are Engine disassembly and repair, repair of

aluminum, steel and fiberglass airframes/coverings, fix hydraulic, fuel and electrical system

(UH-60 Helicopter Repairer). For a total of 25 weeks of training you will spend about 6 months

out at BCT and AIT. That is about average for most military training times. This matters because

you will be away from your family and friends for 6 months and you have to know what you will

be learning.

Some helpful skills that UH-60 Helicopter Repairer suggests you have as a 15T are:

Preference in mathematics and shop mechanics, interest in working with aircrafts and engine

mechanics, and the ability to use hand and power tools. This means that to be a UH-60 helicopter

repairer you need to be good with numbers as well as your hands. You will be working with a lot
of specialized tools to work on the twin engines, tail boom, tail rotor, main rotors, and drive shaft

of the UH-60 Black Hawk. Because I enjoying working with my hands, this would be a good job

for me. I can also solve most mathematical problems with proper learning.

The military can also get you ready for a civilian career. If you pick a MOS (military

occupational specialty) that has a decent job on the civilian side of things. UH-60 Helicopter

Repairer (15T), states that as a UH-60 helicopter repairer, “[You will] learn [skills to] help

prepare you for a career as an airframe or powerplant mechanic.” These jobs do exactly the same

things a 15T do all day. This makes the transfer to the civilian side of work would be easy and

simple rather than having to learn and get training in an entirely new job. A lot of jobs in the

military don’t have a similar job in civilian work. To make a living you have to either stay in and

wait until military retirement or learn a new job later in life.

The military pays all their personnel based upon their rank. Enlisted personnel are paid

less than officers and higher ranking individuals are paid better than lower ranking individuals.

Army enlisted rank structure consists of E1 through E9 -The E standing for enlisted. An E1’s or

Private’s salary is $20,170 for a year. An E2, also known as a Private, are paid a yearly salary of

$22,608. Private first classes (E3) are payed $23,774.40. Specialists or Corporals (E4): $26,334

and Sergeants (E5) are payed $28,720 (Army Pay Chart). However, you also have more

responsibilities the higher your rank is. A Sergeant does more because of his experience in

comparison to a Private. Because of this the more time you are in, and the higher rank you are,

the better you are payed and the more responsibility you have. Like any other job, military or

civilian, you have to work hard to be noticed to be given better positions and pay.

Life as a 15T can be rewarding if you are part of a maintenance battalion and you have

fairly regular hours. In the blog, Life of a 15T, user UH60CREWDAWG of

off about 1700 or five 0’clock. In a flight battalion you also have fairly consistent hours when

you are stateside. Also said by UH60CREWDAWG, “I go to PT at 0700 and get off work about

1500… ...On days of night flights I show at 1400 and usually get home about midnight. Unless

my flight gets canceled and I could be home at 1700-1900.” An obvious benefit of being in a

fight battalion is that you get to fly on training missions so that you gain time as an air crew.This

means it works like a normal job: you go to work, you get off about when normal people get off

and get to spend the rest of the day with your family. Granted, you may get asked to do night

hours or flights which can make things different. But you will get to have a semi-normal life.

As with any job you have bad parts of your day or just bad parts of the job itself. Also in

Life of a 15T user JEFFWILLIAMS7 states, “In a flight Battalion flights or in D Co expect the

long hours and [crappy] work… ...In Iraq I have gone in at 1800 and not gotten to go home till

1020 the next morning so it all depends but flight units tend to be more about making mission so

expect long hours.” Multiple users on armystudyguide.com say that while deployed hours are

long and tedious with long flight hours in addition to your normal time working on the

helicopter. Because of this many people looking into military service as a 15T could be deterred

also working long, unpredictable hours when deployed could be something to worry about.

All in all, I learned more about becoming a UH-60 helicopter repairer but the most

important bit of information I learned was about the training and duties of a 15T. Most

importantly I will spend about 6 months just in training. Half of that training will be at basic

combat training that all soldiers must go through but the other 3 months will be spent at

advanced individual training learning what a 15T does and how to fix the helicopter, fallow

manuals, troubleshoot, and fill out paperwork.

I’m not sure I’m ready for the responsibility. I also don’t know how being away from my family

will affect me. I don’t like paperwork and I’m not the best at working with my hands even

though I enjoy doing so. There are also several questions I still have like how do 15Ts get ready

for flight? What are some duties that 15Ts have while they are flying? How much danger are

15Ts in on a daily basis? How likely are you to die as a 15T when deployed? But I will have to

find the answers to those questions at a later time.

Works Cited

"Army Pay Chart & Army Base Pay – Active Duty." Goarmy.com, 31 Dec. 2018,

https://www.goarmy.com/benefits/money/basic-pay-active-duty-soldiers.html. Accessed

27 Feb. 2019

“Life of a 15T.” Army Study Guide, Army Study Guide, 23 November 2009,

https://community.armystudyguide.com/topic/life-of-a-15t. Accessed 27 Feb. 2019

Powers, Rod. “US Army Job Profile: 15T UH-60 Helicopter Repairer.” The Balance

Careers, The Balance Careers, 8 June 2018, https://www.thebalancecareers.com/15t-uh-

60-helicopter-repairer-3345930. Accessed 27 Feb. 2019

“UH-60 Helicopter Repairer (15T).” Goarmy.com, 11 Jan. 2019

https://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/browse-career-and-job-

categories/transportation-and-aviation/uh-60-helicopter-repairer.html. Accessed 27 Feb.

2019