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PROCESS. HEY JACKIE? WE FOCUSED A LOT OF THE F-35s GETTING HERE... AND ALL WE SEE FROM THE OUTSIDE IS TAKE OFFS AND LANDINGS. SO WE WENT INSIDE THE VERMONT AIR NATIONAL GUARD... TO SEE ALL THE WORK GOING INTO GETTING PILOTS READY TO HANDLE THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY. <LT COL NATE GRABER PROGRAM INTEGRATION OFFICE DIRECTOR <1:36:31 I FLEW THE F16 FOR QUITE A WHILE, áNAT FLEW IT FOR 20 YEARS (2)> <GRABER 1:36:34 THE FIRST THING THAT STRUCK ME FRO FLYING THE F35 WAS HOW EASY IT WAS TO LAND > áNATá VERMONT AIR NATIONAL GUARD - IS IN TRAINING MODE... WITH LIMITED RESOURCES. <COL DAN FINNEGAN, MAINTENANCE GROUP COMMANDER 1:17:48 IT'S REALLY A DELICATE BALANCE. CUT>>> We only have two airplanes so we have to make the most out of every minute we have with them> THEY'RE NOW UP TO SIX FIGHTER JETS... WITH PLANS TO GET MORE EACH MONTH UNTIL THEY HIT 20 TOTAL. MEANTIME - NEARLY 20 PILOTS HAVE SOME SCHOOL TO GET THROUGH BEFORE GETTING INTO THE COCKPIT. <GRABER 1:38:33 ABOUT 100 HOURS OF ACADEMICS> PLUS -- SEVERAL WEEKS OF SIMULATOR TRAINING. <GRABER 1:43:29 IT HAS BEEN A REAL COMMITMENT> MOST OF THESE PILOTS HAVE BEEN áPART-TIME AT THE GUARD FOR YEARS... SO THE F-35'S áARRIVAL - MEANS THEY'RE áLEAVING THEIR CIVILIAN JOBS... WHICH IS BAD NEWS FOR COMMERCIAL AIRLINES. <1:43:16 SO THEY'VE GONE BACK TO THEIR CIVILIAN EMPLOYERS - JETBLUE, UNITED, DELTA - WHOEVER IT IS, AND SAID 'I'M GONNA BE GONE FOR TWO YEARS. COMPLETELY GONE FROM MY AIRLINE JOB.> THEIR TEACHERS - ALSO TAKING ON A LOT OF RESPONSIBILITY... IN THE MONTHS AFTER THE F-35s ARRIVAL, 11 AIR FORCE INSTRUCTORS CAME FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY... STAYING IN TOWN TO TRAIN THE GUARDSMEN AROUND THE CLOCK. <FINNEGAN 1:12:40 REALLY, MORE EFFICIENT FOR OUR AIRMEN TO BE HERE ON-BASE, WORKING ON OUR AIRPLANES> COL. FINNEGAN ALSO SAYS IT SAVES THE GOVERNMENT MONEY - RATHER THAN SENDING áHUNDREDS OF MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONAL CREWS AROUND THE COUNTRY TO TRAIN AT OTHER BASES. THEY DID SEND A FEW THOUGH - TO START GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE NEW TECHNOLOGY... INCLUDING LT. COL. GRABER. <GRABER 1:40:22 THEY DID HAVE MORE PROBLEMS IF YOU WILL. A LOT OF DIFFERENT THINGS IN THE START-UP SEQUENCE THAT WOULD HAPPEN DOWN IN FLORIDA THAT WE DON'T SEE HERE (8)> THE F-35S WERE TEN YEARS OLD AT THE BASE WHERE GRABER TRAINED... WHEREAS THE ONES WE'RE GETTING - ARE COMING RIGHT OFF THE LINE. <1:40:05 THAT MOSTLY MEANS THEY'RE THE MOST RELIABLE PLANES THAT WE HAVE OUT THERE NOW (5)> WE DON'T GET TO SEE MUCH OF THESE DIFFERENCES FROM THE OUTSIDE THOUGH... WE JUST HEAR THEM - áNATá TAKING OFF... áNATá AND LANDING. <GRABER 1:36:11 IT'S GOING TO BE A PRETTY BIG UPTICK OVER THE NEXT SIX MONTHS OR SO > WE'LL HEAR MORE OF THESE JETS AS MORE ARRIVE AT THE BASE - GETTING BACK TO THE DAYS OF THE F-16S... WITH SEVERAL FLIGHTS IN THE MORNING AND THE AFTERNOONS. THE GUARD SAYS - WHILE NOISE HAS BEEN THE MAJOR COMPLAINT... EACH AND EVERY FLIGHT WILL BE WORTH IT - WHEN THE PILOTS ARE READY FOR BATTLE. <FINNEGAN 1:21:33 WHEN WE COME OUT FO CONVERSION, WE'LL BE READY TO DO THE MISSION THAT AMERICA NEEDS US TO BE ABLE TO DO (5)> THE PLANNING FOR THE F-35S GETTING HERE STRETCHED OUT FOR MORE THAN 10 YEARS -- BREAKING DOWN INTO THREE PARTS... ONE - THE TRAININGS. TWO - ARRIVALS OF THE JETS... THE THIRD PART THOUGH - IS THE RENOVATIONS HERE AT THE BASE. A LOT OF NEW BUILDINGS ARE NEEDED TO HOUSE THE NEW EQUIPMENT - AND THE JUMP IN FULL TIME EMPLOYEES. THAT'S THE ONLY ASPECT THAT HASN'T GONE ACCORDING TO PLAN. WE'RE TOLD THE FACIL

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Lt. Col. Nate Graber sorted through his uniform and equipment, describing the new bits of tech in his helmet. The accessories are just one small part of the changes that came with the arrival of the F-35s on the Vermont Air National Guard base. "Everybody's focus was on getting this aircraft here safely and getting it here in September, which we did," Graber said. "The next day, you have to completely change gears and now, start training on that airplane. We have to get ready for a really important job down the road."Graber is the Program Integration Office director, which means he oversees the conversion from the F16s to the F35s. He said a lot of the training component actually happened long before the wheels of the first F-35s touched down on the tarmac in Vermont.Graber said he flew F-16s for more than 20 years and started working with the F-35s on a base in Florida. One of the first differences he noticed flying around the Florida base came upon landing."It struck me how easy it was to land," he said. "There's an exponential leap in technology and what's presented to us in the cockpit. It's super cool and actually a really fun plane to fly from that perspective."Even with the improved safety features and new automation systems, Graber said the jets still felt familiar. But the F-35s he spent months training on were about 10 years old. The ones at the Vermont base are coming right off the line."That mostly means they're the most reliable planes that we have out there now," he explained.Graber was one of dozens of guardsmen and women sent around the country to become "fluent" in the new technology. This was done with the intention of bringing that experience and knowledge back to the Vermont base to help train those around them. The Air Guard also sent 11 instructors to Vermont, coming from around the country to conduct intensive classes around the clock. The commanders said housing the instructors for a few months ended up saving them a lot of money. "Instead of sending hundreds of people out," said maintenance group commander Col. Dan Finnegan, "It's really more efficient for our airmen to be here on-base, working on our airplanes and really seeing and feeling and touching the procedures they're going to be doing here in short order."Learning how to both take care of and fly the new fighter jets started with hundreds of hours of academics and simulator training sessions. Graber told the 20 pilots going through the conversion they'd be making a two-year commitment and had to leave their civilian jobs. For many pilots, they were working at commercial airlines."They've gone back to their civilian employers -- JetBlue, United, Delta -- whoever it is, and said, 'I'm gonna be gone for two years. Completely gone from my airline job,'" Graber said. "It hasn't been too tough of a sell, but it also is a change in lifestyle. To come back into the military full time for a couple of years when they've been used to having a civilian job."Now that more F-35s are arriving on base, the crews are getting more hands-on training."When we come out of conversion, we'll be ready to do the mission that America needs us to be able to do," said Finnegan. "You can't always be told how to do it. You have to get your hands in there -- see how it works -- and that's how you learn the system. That's how you get really fluent in doing your job."As more jets arrive, there will be more practice flights, which people are already seeing and hearing around the South Burlington base."It's going to be a pretty big uptick over the next six months or so," Graber said. "Ramping up operations from one or two flights a day to what will eventually become eight flights in the morning, six flights in the afternoon."Seeing and hearing that number of flights takes them back to the days of the F-16s. But taking car of the jets is very different from then. Finnegan said his maintenance crews' skill sets are having to evolve to meet the new technology's needs."We now have a big crew that maintains the skin of the aircraft," he said. "It's a key feature that allows it to hide from the radars and it's new only to F-35s."The new technology also calls for new facilities. The South Burlington base has been growing over the last five years years, with new buildings being constructed and old ones going through renovations. The work is taking longer than expected."A lot of people have been displaced," said Graber. "We've been in a deployed mentality. So to get back into our home, our final place -- people are really excited about it."He said with the delays, the renovations should be done in the next six to nine months. In the meantime, he's attempting to become "fluent" in the F-35s. That means lots of training flights. He said, while they are noisy, every flight gets them that much closer to being battle ready."We're really excited about the future," Graber said. "We have the next couple of years to get through the conversion. We're ready to be a combat unit again."