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Combat Aerial Delivery Flight: Delivering the fight to the enemy

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Joel Mease
  • 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
(Editor's note: This is the last in a four-part series on the 317th Airlift Group's C-130 operations.)

The light in the C-130 just turned green, and the loadmaster just released more than 5,000 pounds of equipment rushing to the earth.

The 317th Operations Support Squadron Combat Aerial Delivery Flight is responsible for ensuring the heavy cargo that C-130s drop are properly packed on their pallets and their parachutes deploy.

Having one of the most unique jobs, Air Force riggers make up less than two percent of their career field of air transportation, said Tech. Sgt. Rhett Reesing, 317th OSS air drop rigger.

"We were trained by the Army to pack the pallets and chutes and set everything up to go on the aircraft," Sergeant Reesing said.

Because only a small handful in the entire Air Force wear an Army rigging badge, many in the combat aerial delivery flight wear it with much pride.

"There is absolutely no one else in the Air Force who gets to be a part of this," said Senior Airman Oscar Hernandez, 317th OSS air drop rigger. "To create a load from scratch and then get to see the end result is just awesome to be a part of."

One of the items that allow their job to be so unique is that they only do this job out of Dyess, and it is actually the Army riggers that prepare the loads in the area of responsibility. While it may be an Army rigger that sets up the packages for air drops in Iraq or Afghanistan, the job of an Air Force rigger at home is very critical to the everyday mission of the 317th AG, Sergeant Reesing said.

"Our sole job is to make sure the fliers in the 39th and 40th (Airlift Squadron) get the preparation they need to get the supplies Soldiers need on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan," Sergeant Reesing said.

Airman Hernandez and Sergeant Reesing agree that helping prepare those fliers gives them great job satisfaction.

Along with their job of setting up the packages to get dropped, it's their responsibility to pick up pallets from the drop zones. The Tennyson Drop Zone, which is more than an hour's drive from here, is one of their primary locations. In one week, the 317th AG averages 24 drops, Sergeant Reesing said.

When they arrive to pick up the parachutes and the packages, the team will arrive with semis, off-road-capable trucks, and fork lifts to retrieve the heavy equipment.

"When we get to the drop zone we have to remember that we are in the wilderness in a sense," Sergeant Reesing said. "Many times snakes, scorpions and sharp brush get caught up in the parachutes and present a safety issue."

This is one of the reasons why safety is the No. 1 priority in the flight, Sergeant Reesing said.

"Along with the job hazards that we deal with, we have to ensure that all of our cargo is properly packed," Sergeant Reesing said. "The last thing we want to do is jeopardize the air crew by not packing it correctly."

Overall, getting to see the end result of what they do, Sergeant Reesing said, is something special.

"It really is like a badge of honor to us to be a rigger in the Air Force," he said.