Photo By Tech. Sgt. Dylan Nuckolls | Senior Airman Joshua Duncan, 58th Operations Support Squadron aerial delivery ops...... read more read more
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The 58th Operations Support Squadron’s Aerial Delivery Flight might not be well known to most on Kirtland. However, the mission they perform impacts the 58th Special Operations Wing mission to ‘Train Warriors, Professionalize Airmen, [and] Employ Airpower.’
The AD Flight is primarily responsible for preparing and packing any air drops that the 415th Special Operations Squadron needs to accomplish their training mission. They are also at the ready to ensure mission success for the region and flow through traffic or missions that are serviced by the 377th Air Base Wing.
“Our day to day mission consists of doing the plane checks. Which is checking the equipment from the previous day’s drops,” said Staff Sgt. Demarc Shorter, 58th OSS Aerial Delivery supervisor. “We are also rigging the previous night and previous day’s equipment meaning parachutes and air drop function loads and that also includes loading everything up for the day supporting that day’s sorties as well.”
Not only do the AD Airmen pack all the parachutes and prep the cargo that is going to be dropped, they also run the drop zones.
“We have Airmen… controlling the drop zone, talking on the radio coordinating aircraft movement to make sure that the mission goes smoothly and safely,” said Capt. Colin Shepherd, 58th OSS Aerial Delivery Flight commander.
The mission keeps the flight busy but with the job they do, focus must be maintained at all times working on the air drop cargo and out at the drop zone.
“It’s very complicated actually to rig the parachutes and to ensure the equipment is on the pallets properly so that they can be air dropped,” said Shepherd. “Any small mistake anywhere in rigging all the lining that connects the cargo to the parachutes--it’s very important that’s done properly … and they make no mistakes doing it.”
Not only does the flight pack all the parachutes on the cargo being dropped but they also deliver it to the aircraft.
“We also load all the equipment up onto the planes working with the student loadmasters,” said Shorter. “We also go out to the drop zones to give them their drop scores after they drop it out of the plane.”
The flight’s crucial contribution to the 58th SOW mission doesn’t go unnoticed by its leadership.
“The Airmen here do a great job, they have a very important task… Day, night ops they’re supporting the 415th,” said Shepherd. “Early flights, late flights, they’re here almost 24/7 making sure the equipment is ready to go to support the flying operations we have here.”
| Date Taken: | 05.02.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 05.02.2019 18:29 |
| Story ID: | 320523 |
| Location: | KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, NEW MEXICO, US |
| Web Views: | 145 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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