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SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- During a recent commander's call, Gen. Raymond E. Johns Jr., Air Mobility Command commander, may have best cited the importance of airlift to today's military when he said, "One mission can change the world."
As one of AMC's core capabilities, airlift remains a staple in getting the "beans and bullets" to the warfighter, officials said. As a prime example, look at the Afghanistan surge. Since the "surge" of an additional 30,000 forces to Afghanistan was announced by President Barack Obama on Dec. 1, 2009, the airlift community has been extra busy, statistics show.
By the numbers
According to statistics from the Air Forces Central Public Affairs at the Combined Air Operations Center in Southwest Asia, there were more than 19,600 intra-theater airlift sorties for Operation Enduring Freedom between December 2009 and July 2010. Over seven months, that's an average of 2,800 airlift sorties a month.
Additionally, the statistics show during those seven months there were 183,600 tons of cargo delivered to the Afghanistan theater of operations via airlift -- an average of more than 26,000 tons a month.
As a deeper example using a three-month window, between January and March 2009, there was 29,500 tons of cargo airlifted for OEF, statistics show. In that same amount of time from January to March 2010, there was 64,100 tons of cargo airlifted for OEF -- more than double from the previous year.
The business of the Afghanistan surge can also be revealed in the number of airlift passengers carried since the President's announcement in December 2009. From Dec. 1, 2009, to July 31 AFCENT statistics show mobility airlifters moved more than 441,000 passengers for OEF, including a peak month in May 2010 when airlifters moved 68,000 passengers for the operation. When comparing passenger movements between January to July 2009 to January to July 2010, there was an increase of 186,000 passengers moved in 2010 compared to 2009.
Airlifters at the forefront
When discussing airlifters, Air Mobility Command has a myriad of aircraft meeting the challenge. During the Afghanistan surge, aircraft such as the C-5 Galaxy, C-17 Globemaster III, C-130 Hercules and commercial cargo aircraft have been called on to support. Even air refueling aircraft such as the KC-10 Extender and the KC-135 Stratotanker, both capable of carrying cargo, helped stage the movement of cargo and personnel into the deployed theater of operations, officials said.
One example of surge success includes a pair of C-5M Super Galaxy aircraft -- the newest C-5 to join the AMC fleet boasting upgraded engines and avionics, enhanced communications, navigation and safety systems and improved reliability rates -- that participated in a 30-day mission earlier in the summer of 2010.
According to an AMC Public Affairs report, 10 C-5 aircraft -- two M models and eight legacy A- and B- model C-5s -- transported more than 100 U.S. Army helicopters and more than 400,000 pounds of related equipment from Rota Naval Air Station, Spain, to various bases in Afghanistan, including Bagram Airfield and Kandahar Airfield.
"Although 10 aircraft were used, at any given time only four or five aircraft (including the two C-5M Super Galaxies) were transporting helicopters downrange," the report said.
Another example includes AMC's support for the deployment of two battalions of Marines from Cherry Point, N.C., in December 2009. During that movement, officials said it involved more than 40 C-17 missions and more than 1,300 tons of cargo moved.
The C-17, the Air Force's newest airlifter, has a maximum payload capacity of 170,900 pounds, has a maximum gross takeoff weight of 585,000 pounds, and can carry up to 102 troops, according to its Air Force fact sheet. It's a capacity that Airmen in the C-17 community say they are happy to maximize for operations like the Afghanistan surge.
Lt. Col. John Price, the 6th Airlift Squadron commander at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., who returned from deployment in March 2010 said in a news report from that same month that, "without combat airlift, operations on this scale simply are not possible."
"We employed our C-17s to transport equipment, supplies and personnel from main operating bases to austere locations throughout the Middle East (including Afghanistan)," Price said in the report by Joint Base MDL Public Affairs. "By providing logistical and transportation support to our fellow servicemembers, we helped ensure success in combat and sustainment operations."
Total Force, joint effort
In April 2010, more than 1,600 Airmen from the Air Force Reserve went on active duty to support surge operations, a news report from Air Force Reserve Command Public Affairs said. The call-up included aircrew members, aircraft maintainers, aerial porters and base operating support forces.
The call-up of Reservists is also a reflection of the diversity of personnel who have made the surge possible -- active duty, Air National Guard and Reserve as well as partnerships with U.S. Transportation Command and other services such as the Army, Navy and Marine Corps.
"I wanted to be here, and I'm proud to be able to contribute to the war effort by supporting our fellow service members who are in theater," Air Force Reserve Maj. Jeff Snyder, a 326th Airlift Squadron pilot from the 512th Airlift Wing at Dover Air Force Base, Del., said in the AFRC report.
On the Air National Guard side, a large number of Airmen were called up just like the Reserve Airmen. For example, another report from April 2010 by the New York Air National Guard Public Affairs showed how 130 Guard members assigned to the 105th Airlift Wing at Stewart ANG Base, N.Y., were placed on active duty for 211 days to support the surge. That included C-5 flight crew members, maintenance technicians and support personnel.
And Guard members said they were more than happy to participate in the effort.
"I love my job, because the bottom line is we get to help people," said Master Sgt. Marc Maxwell, a C-130 Hercules loadmaster with the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, said in a news story in May 2010. Sergeant Maxwell deployed from the California Air National Guard's 115th Airlift Squadron at Channel Island Air National Guard Station in Port Hueneme, Calif.
"Getting people to the medical care they need is a great example of airlift," Sergeant Maxwell said in the report. "Being a part of this mission in this region is awesome. I get to assist the guys on the frontlines. I may have a small role but I am happy to play it."
Airlift will continue to make a difference
AMC officials say the ability to deliver critical supplies into the most remote regions of Afghanistan "provides combined forces land component commanders the freedom to maneuver and arrange forces, as needed."
In continuing operations, officials said that at many locations throughout Afghanistan, mobility warriors will continue to go full throttle because "Soldiers and Marines depend exclusively on airlifters to bring them supplies they need to survive and overcome in the fight."
(Ms. Angel Lopez, Joint Base McGuire Public Affairs, 1st Lt. Heather Ward, Air Forces Central Public Affairs, 1st Lt. Candice Allen, Air Force Reserve Command Public Affairs, and Tech. Sgt. Oshawn Jefferson, 62nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs, contributed to this report.)
| Date Taken: | 08.31.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 08.31.2010 15:00 |
| Story ID: | 55480 |
| Location: | SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 229 |
| Downloads: | 13 |
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