Mobility Airmen deliver search and rescue teams to Japan

Airmen from the 89th Aerial Port Squadron load pallets onto a C-17 Globemaster III on March 12, 2011, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. Air transportation Airmen from the 89th APS created 14 pallets of technical search and rescue gear, to include inflatable swift-water rescue boats, generators, trench rescue and cutting equipment. The gear is being transported by C-17 to more than 80 Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue technicians, to provide assistance in the rescue effort after an earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, 2011. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Senior Airman Perry Aston)

Mobility Airmen deliver search and rescue teams to Japan

Airmen from the 89th Aerial Port Squadron load pallets onto a C-17 Globemaster III on March 12, 2011, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. Air transportation Airmen from the 89th APS created 14 pallets of technical search and rescue gear, to include inflatable swift-water rescue boats, generators, trench rescue and cutting equipment. The gear is being transported by C-17 to more than 80 Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue technicians, to provide assistance in the rescue effort after an earthquake and tsunami hit japan on March 11. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Senior Airman Perry Aston)

Mobility Airmen deliver search and rescue teams to Japan

Airman 1st Class Ryan Lloyd, an air transportation Airman, off-loads gear with the help of Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, Virginia Task Force 1, at Misawa Air Base, Japan, on March 14, 2011. The task force arrived in Misawa following an 8.9-magnitude earthquake that triggered a tsunami off Japan's eastern coast. The team traveled to Ofurnatu, Japan, to assist with search and rescue operations. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Chief Petty Officer Daniel Sanford)

Air transportation Airmen making a difference for Japan relief operations

Published March 14, 2011
By Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
Air Mobility Command Public Affairs

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Among the busiest Airmen at Misawa Air Base, Japan, and many other locations throughout the world coordinating humanitarian relief operations in Japan are air transportation Airmen.
On March 11, an 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck Japan and a tsunami followed creating widespread destruction throughout the country, according to a U.S. Geological Survey report as well as numerous news reports show. Within a short time, U.S. military members were gearing up to support a response and air transportation Airmen, or aerial porters, were no exception.

Aerial porters have since been building cargo pallets and moving cargo 24 hours a day to keep humanitarian relief operations moving wherever it's needed. For example, on March 12, aerial porters from the 89th Aerial Port Squadron at Joint Base Andrews, Md., loaded a C-17 Globemaster III with Virginia-based search and rescue cargo and personnel bound for Japan.

Also, at Joint Base Pearl-Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, aerial porters from the 735th Air Mobility Squadron were busy March 12 loading generators and related cargo on to a C-17 heading to Japan. The plane departed quickly and a squadron commander, who was on temporary duty to Hawaii, was able to return to his home station of Yokota Air Base, Japan. "Today I'm proud to be in the U.S. Air Force," Lt. Col. Rocky Favorito, 374th Communications Squadron commander at Yokota said about returning with humanitarian aid in tow.

At Misawa AB, aerial porters like Airman 1st Class Ryan Lloyd of the 35th Logistics Readiness Squadron are shown in photos by U.S. Navy photographers working to move cargo belonging to search and rescue personnel arriving in the country. Aerial porters at Misawa have received numerous aircraft -- from civilian airliners to C-17s -- and are continuing 24-hour operations as more and more cargo and people flow in from around the world.

But in retrospect, these air transportation Airmen are doing exactly what they are trained to do, according to their official Air Force job description for the 2T2X1 career field.

Aerial porters must maintain mandatory job knowledge in passenger and cargo movement functions to include transport aircraft types, capabilities, and configuration, the job description states. They must also know weight and balance factors, airlift transportation directives and documentation, cargo securing techniques, border clearance requirements, operation of materials handling and other types of loading equipment or devices, fleet service functions.

In directing air transportation activities, aerial porters supplement policies and direct supervisory personnel to provide cargo and passenger loading and unloading services. They are trained to establish procedures for passenger and aircraft clearance through international border clearance agencies and to inspect airlift activities for compliance with directives, the job description states.

Air transportation Airmen are also trained to "verify eligibility of cargo and mail offered for airlift and to review passenger travel authorizations for validity and accuracy." They also ensure all cargo documentation, packaging, labeling and marking requirements, and all border clearance requirements have been met. They provide information on schedules, routes, air movement requirements, baggage limitations and local facilities for passengers and requisitions, stores and issues expendable and nonexpendable items for use on aircraft.

Aerial porters are busier than ever right now -- the facts support it. However, many see it as just doing their job and they are happy to support the effort. Tech. Sgt. Jared Cunningham of the 89th APS may have said it best for all aerial porters after he and other Airmen supported the March 12 mission to Japan.

"This is a good thing -- getting this equipment loaded on the plane," Sergeant Cunningham said. "This is good work, because you know it's going to help the people in Japan."

(Master Sgt. Jeff Capenos, 89th Airlift Wing Public Affairs, and Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs contributed to this report.)