Air mobility operations complete for troop surge in Afghanistan

Published Sept. 30, 2010
By Capt. Justin Brockhoff
618th Air and Space Operations Center (Tanker Airlift Control Center) Public Affairs

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Air Mobility Command aircraft delivered 59 troops and multiple large vehicles to Bagram Air Base, Aug. 31, marking the final airlift missions for the Presidentially-directed 30,000 troop plus-up in Afghanistan, according to AMC officials.

U.S. President Barack Obama announced the decision to deploy 30,000 additional troops to Operation Enduring Freedom Dec. 1, 2009. Two days later, a C-17 Globemaster III touched down at an airfield in Afghanistan's Helmand Province, carrying the first OEF plus-up cargo from the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C.

Over the next 271 days, active-duty, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard and commercial partners flew more than 3,500 point-to-point airlift flights, called sorties, from the U.S. to overseas locations for the OEF plus-up.

All of the inter-theater airlift missions were planned, tasked and command-and-controlled by the 618th Air and Space Operations Center (Tanker Airlift Control Center) at Scott Air Force Base, Ill. As Eighteenth Air Force's hub for global operations, the 618th AOC (TACC) plans, schedules and directs a fleet of nearly 1,300 mobility aircraft in support of strategic airlift, air refueling, and aeromedical evacuation operations around the world.

"A typical mission for the Afghanistan plus up started being planned about three weeks before the aircrew ever showed up to the plane," said Maj. Chris Lanier, chief of the 618th AOC (TACC)'s Global Readiness Contingency Division. "Deploying the OEF plus-up force was a massive effort and it took a lot of agencies from around the world to make it happen."

How the requirement to move 30,000 troops (and associated cargo) becomes reality

"All of the missions planned, tasked and executed by the 618th AOC (TACC) for the plus-up started with CENTCOM," according to Major Lanier. "U.S. Central Command officials, acting on orders from the president, identified when and where they wanted the 30,000 troops and the cargo that goes with them. Once the baseline was established, officials at U.S. Transportation Command validated the timeline and mode of transportation for each requirement; either land, sea, air, or a combination of the three."

Once USTRANSCOM officials validated the requirements that needed to move by air, those missions were sent to the 618th AOC (TACC)'s Global Readiness Directorate, where planning started, according to officials.

In the early phases, planning consisted of building a timeline for the mission and determining what type of aircraft was required, which depended on the size and weight of the requirement being moved. In the cases of heavy equipment, the C-17, C-5, or commercially-contracted planes such as the AN-124 are the aircraft of choice. For the personnel movements, more than 90% of the plus-up troops moved to Manas Transit Center, Krygzstan, via commercially-contracted airliners, and then flew the last portion of the mission into Afghanistan on C-17s or C-130s.

After the initial planning was complete, the missions were sent to the 618th AOC (TACC)'s Mobility Management Directorate, where each mission is assigned to an AMC wing, or an AFRC or ANG unit that had volunteered or been mobilized to fly the mission.

Finally, approximately 24 hours prior to take-off, the missions moved to the Command and Control Directorate, where personnel obtain diplomatic clearances (the permissions to fly over or land in other countries), create flight plans for the aircrews and provide 24/7 oversight of the missions from the 618th AOC (TACC)'s Operations Floor.

"It's a detail-oriented task to take these missions from planning to execution," said Col. Lynn Coehoorn, a director of operations on the 618th AOC (TACC) ops floor. "One small detail can derail an entire mission, which can then affect the other missions coming behind it. That's why we're constantly working to mitigate the results of issues that are out of our control. It's our job to keep cargo and troops moving and that's exactly what we did throughout the OEF plus-up."

Keeping the missions moving

Some of the first plus-up requirements sent to Afghanistan were Contingency Response teams, who opened new airfields or augmented in-place assets, increasing the amount of missions the mobility enterprise could send through Afghanistan in a given day, according to officials.

"The OEF plus-up was a major airlift operation that required robust en-route support and forces on the ground to make it happen," said Maj. Brian Tavernier, one of the mission planners responsible for sending the contingency teams forward to Afghanistan. "It's one thing to fly cargo and troops around the world, but before they arrive you need the right support personnel in-place to offload, refuel, and provide any maintenance and security for the aircraft. The importance of the contingency response forces cannot be overstated and that's why they were among the first groups we sent overseas."

AMC's overall numbers are impressive for the plus-up period, however officials stress that while the surge was a priority, other global missions had to continue.

Aside from the sorties moving OEF plus-up requirements, the 618th AOC (TACC) planned, tasked, and executed another 69 thousand sorties moving 553 thousand tons and 1.3 million passengers to meet standing CENTCOM requirements. Those additional numbers alone represent enough cargo to fill a line of semi-trucks 157 miles long and enough passengers to equal the population of Dallas, Texas.

"The bottom line is that while we were focused on the OEF plus-up operations, we couldn't take our eyes off all of the other needs for global airlift, air refueling and aeromedical evacuation," added Colonel Coehoorn. "And we never did, including January 12, when Haiti was hit with that massive earthquake, driving the need for even more airlift teams and aircraft."

A need that was met through a combination of AMC forces, and volunteers from the Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard, Air Education and Training Command, and Pacific Air Forces that stepped up to fly the humanitarian requirements. Because of the volunteerism of those crews, the OEF plus-up and all other global airlift, air refueling and aeromedical evacuation requirements continued.

Just as requirements for relief efforts in Haiti began to taper, another challenge emerged to air mobility's global operations, in the form of a volcano that produced an ash cloud over northern Europe, bringing civil and military flight operations to a standstill.

"The volcano was another issue that challenged our ability to execute the surge in addition to our routine global mission," said Maj. William Courtemanche, the director of the 618th AOC (TACC)'s Global Mobility Weather Operations Directorate. "Fortunately, the close integration of the weather personnel on the 618th AOC (TACC) ops floor led to rapid decisions necessary to flex the mobility system. Shortly after the volcano erupted, the ash plume prediction was the basis for proactively moving aircraft and aircrews from northern to southern Europe, which proved to be a difference maker. Instead of having C-17s and C-5s grounded in Germany, we kept them in the rotation moving troops and cargo from the U.S. to Afghanistan, but through Spain instead of the normal route through Germany."

After two weeks of adjusted operations to a southern European route, AMC missions were able to go back to normal for a few days, until the ash cloud shifted, sporadically blocking all routes over the Atlantic.

"At that point we had to make a decision to either let troops and cargo start building up at our hubs in the U.S., or start sending missions west through the Pacific to Afghanistan," said Colonel Coehoorn. "It's a path that takes longer to fly, and required us to pre-position maintenance crews to multiple locations in the Pacific, but ultimately we did it to guarantee the continued flow of troops and cargo to the AOR."

By the time the ash settled, the 618th AOC (TACC) re-routed more than 600 sorties, ensuring the delivery of cargo, passengers and more than 100 aeromedical evacuation patients.

"And again, we continued moving troops and cargo for the surge, without fail," added Colonel Coehoorn.

The results

The Air Mobility enterprise executed 3,637 sorties delivering more than 27 thousand passengers and 20 thousand tons of cargo for the OEF plus-up, according to 618th AOC (TACC) officials. The remaining three thousand plus-up troops moved into Afghanistan from Iraq on aircraft assigned to CENTCOM. On an average day during plus-up operations, AMC airlifters moved 1,075 tons per day into Afghanistan.

While these numbers alone are impressive, they represent only 5 percent of AMC's sorties flown into the CENTCOM AOR during the plus-up period, and a staggering 3 percent of the AMC inter-theater sorties flown worldwide.

"Globally, mobility forces transported 674 thousand tons of cargo and more than 1.75 million passengers since we started moving troops and cargo for the OEF plus-up," said Mr. Dan Derick, from the 618th AOC (TACC)'s data analysis branch.

Although the OEF plus-up is complete, the mobility air force's work to support the deployed forces in Afghanistan, is far from over.

"Prior to the OEF plus-up, when troop levels in Afghanistan were near 65 to 70 thousand, air mobility forces delivered approximately 700 tons per day to support the forces deployed throughout the country," added Mr. Derick.

Now that troop levels are closer to 100,000, officials expect the new requirement will be more than 1,100 tons per day.

"We keep missions moving day and night to support our deployed forces overseas," added Colonel Coehoorn. "As long as there are troops overseas, the team here at the 618th AOC (TACC) will be here 24/7 making sure we keep executing the airlift, air refueling and aeromedical evacuation missions that support those forces every day."