AEDC's Capt. Jeffery Hartberger: From aircraft mechanic to aerospace engineer

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  Not long after Capt. Jeff Hartberger returned from an 11-month long deployment to the Horn of Africa, he reflected on how much a degree in engineering has changed his life.

Captain Hartberger, who recently joined AEDC's Turbine Engine Ground Test Complex, said his professional journey began more than 20 years ago, when he enlisted in the Air Force as an aircraft mechanic. After several years of depot-level experience, he came to a major decision, one that changed his life in more ways than he would ever have imagined.

"I was working at Tinker (AFB) and I saw all the engineers come up from the depot, come over and tell us, 'Hey, fix it like this or do this to repair that aircraft,'" he said. "I thought, there is no reason why I can't go do that. So, I started taking classes down at OU (Oklahoma University) and ended up getting my degree."

Captain Hartberger, who first reported to AEDC three years ago to work in the technology branch, said earning his bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering opened more doors than he realized.

After earning his commission, his first assignment introduced him to an explosive environment.

"I was a warhead design engineer down at Eglin AFB in [the] Air Force Research Laboratory's Munitions Directorate," he said. "We would go out on the range and set off new types of 250/500 pounders."

He said his time at AEDC has been an "eye opening" experience, for both personal and professional reasons.

"It's such a small tight knit military community here," he said. "Being right up next to some unique engineering facilities and getting involved with hands on stuff is very cool. You don't get opportunities like this a lot of places you go - being involved with all these unique [and] huge test facilities is really cool."

As an Airman, he had deployed to Saudi Arabia on a few occasions, but his almost year-long deployment to Africa provided the captain with an even more memorable experience.

Originally, Captain Hartberger had volunteered for an assignment as a country duty officer at the joint operations compound for the African-Command, monitoring field activities in different countries for United States African Command (AFRICOM).

"I thought Africa would be a different type of deployment, something a little bit different and it was," he said.

As it turned out, Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa (CJTF HOA), covering eastern Africa, really needed an engineer.

"They were extremely short on civil engineers," Captain Hartberger recalled. "I ended up being the Seabee project manager while there. I managed all construction projects that were completed by military construction forces, mostly [Navy] Seabees (construction battalions), 150 men, with a 13-man Army team also that rotated in about mid-tour for the CJTF-HOA."

Captain Hartberger said he got an unrivaled cultural and inter-service education.

"Probably the most interesting part of the deployment was working on the task force with other U.S. services, with the foreign militaries and working with local government officials," he said. "We had a British Army O-5 that was the deputy J3 (the J3 director was an Army O-6). Within J3 I worked in J34 for a Navy O-6. He was the lead force engineer. We also had liaison officers on the task force from many of the east Africa countries.

"I interacted with AFRICOM, U.S. embassies, USAID (United States Agency for International Development), French military, several east African militaries, several east African government officials, local village elders and local school headmasters."

"I spent a lot of my time traveling around east Africa to a lot of different countries, visiting projects. [On] one of the Seabee projects, we were drilling wells around Ethiopia. I'd go out and meet village elders and talk to them. I definitely got to go out and do a lot of hands on with local people."

Captain Hartberger also experienced some of the tensions that exist in Africa during a construction project to improve living conditions in one country.

"The water wells in Ethiopia were for local villages," he said. "The location of a water source could be significant factor in quality of life for a village. It could also be a political issue when you have villages competing for limited water resources."

During his deployment, Captain Hartberger's son had a world map, allowing the five-year-old to follow his father's travels.

Not surprisingly, the captain's reunion with his family was another high point after a long deployment.

"It makes you really happy to come home," he said.