Flight line ?pumpkins? lead the way

[thedrifter]

Flight line ?pumpkins? lead the way
Submitted by: MCB Camp Butler
Story Identification Number: 200441819160
Story by Lance Cpl. Thomas A. Sloan



MARINE CORPS AIR STATION FUTENMA, Okinawa, Japan (April 9, 2004) -- A C-130 Hercules makes its descent just before dusk after a 12-hour flight. On the approach, passengers can make out orange specks while staring out portholes at 5,000 feet. Passengers and crew are welcomed to the Far East by a host of orange jump suits.

They aren?t inmates from the brig sent here to pick up trash or the winners of the latest meritorious incarceration board. They are the Marines, otherwise known as spotters, of the air station?s Air Freight Passenger Terminal.

The seven-member section is responsible for taxiing and parking all aircraft that land here; they wear the orange flight suits for visibility and safety reasons, according to Staff. Sgt. Adrian A. Perez, staff noncommissioned officer-in-charge of AFPT.

?The suits we wear really stand out, which helps pilots see us better when making their approach to the terminal,? said the Coronal, Cali. native. ?Because they can see us so well, our chances of being injured in an accident are slim.?

Perez said after a pilot lands on the runway, they are given directions on where to park the aircraft by a spotter. Spotters can sometimes be difficult to see.

?We have space out there and the pilots used to, at times, have difficulty locating their spotter,? Perez said. ?With our orange flight suits, this is no longer a problem. They know exactly where to go. That?s why we started wearing them. We wanted a uniform that would stand out in order to prevent confusion.?

Marines of AFPT changed their uniform of the day from green flight suits to orange ones a little over six months ago; the time of year the change took place lent to jokes on the sections expense.

?We switched over October 30 of last year, just in time for Halloween,? Cpl. Trevor R. Diggs, crew leader AFPT said with a grin. ?Everyone who came to the terminal thought we were dressing up to be funny. They remarked that we looked like pumpkins with stems because of our orange suits and green covers. We still wear our regular covers.?

The 24-year-old Waterloo, Ill., native said they had also been told by visitors that they looked like escapees from the brig.

?We are always getting poked fun of for our orange suits, but we don?t mind,? he said. ?They serve their purpose and that?s the main thing.?

All jokes aside, the orange flight suits are an improvement pilots landing here are glad AFPT Marines have made, according to Maj. Sean C. Stewart, executive officer for Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron, Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni.

?They make taxiing here less confusing because they are so easy to see,? the Hampton, Va., native said. ?Whenever I fly in I can see bright orange from afar. I think it?s a good idea the Marines here started wearing them.?

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2...F1?opendocument


Ellie