Mobility Air Forces provide wartime capability, humanitarian assistance

Published Sept. 20, 2011
By Master Sgt. Amaani Lyle
Air Force Public Affairs Agency

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- The same machines that deliver critical capabilities to U.S. joint forces have also proven their mettle in humanitarian missions, said the Air Mobility Command's top officer at the Air Force Association's 2011 Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition here Sept. 19.

This year, the command will spend $2.5 billion with its commercial partners in industry to streamline the processes and assets that move 90 percent of the Air Force's passengers and 37 percent of its cargo, Gen. Ray Johns said.

The general lauded the 135,000 active duty, Guard and Reserve Airmen and civilians who comprise the command he called the "grand ballet" of global vigilance, global power and global reach.

"We deliver hope with our airlift capabilities, we fuel the fight with our air refueling and we save lives with our aeromedical evacuation," Johns said, adding AMC ensures the rapid element of the U.S. Transportation Command's air, land and sea capabilities can be anywhere in the world in 18 hours. "The heart of what we really do (is in our) Airmen: our support, our tacticians, maintainers, porters and aircrews, who focus on helping others."

Johns explained that simultaneous needs to support approximately 30,000 troops in Afghanistan, three major exercises in Korea, Singapore and Thailand, presidential movements, and missions in Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, and Bahrain had seemingly pushed the command to its limit - until the news in Japan broke.

The magnitude 9.0 earthquake and the ensuing tsunami wave devastated much of the nation and soon AMC found itself embroiled in a triple effort of "humanitarian assistance, consequence management and brilliant evacuation," Johns said.

Approximately 7,800 dependents were evacuated to Seattle and Travis Air Force Base, Calif., initial estimations projected the potential need to move 90,000 dependents, Johns said, adding that industry partners again stepped in to offer assistance.

With ongoing combat operations in full swing, other concurrent natural disasters such as the floods in Pakistan, earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, and even volcanic activity have done little to hamper the command's wartime capabilities, Johns explained.

AMC members were able to execute a short-notice western reroute to Atlantic transit lines to avoid the ash that had filled skies following the May 2011 eruption in Iceland, he added.

Despite the barrage of humanitarian missions, Johns emphasized the attention to the needs of the warfighter, specifically in aeromedical evacuation, remains focused.

In July 2011, AMC collaborated with industry to develop tactical critical care evacuation teams from first surgical station to the theater hospital which may allow U.S. forces to return Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen safely to their families, the general said.

"We need that precision, that whole package," Johns said. "We want to answer the call, so that no matter who calls, they will prevail."