New airlift team ready for sucess in Southwest Asia

Published Sept. 30, 2009
By Airman 1st Class David Dobrydney
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- They've departed the sunny South for sandy Southwest Asia.

A new crew of Airmen has rotated into the 746th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron from Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., to continue the squadron's mission of providing airlift support, moving equipment and people as required to locations down range in support of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom.

The Keesler Airmen brought with them their fleet of C-130J Hercules aircraft. The C-130J is the most up-to-date incarnation of the veteran C-130 class of aircraft. Compared to older C-130s, the J-model climbs faster and higher, flies farther at a higher cruise speed, and takes off and lands in a shorter distance. It is capable of airdropping loads up to 42,000 pounds or use its high-flotation landing gear to land and deliver cargo on rough, dirt strips. Its flexible design enables it to be configured for many different missions, allowing for one aircraft to perform the role of many.

Of course, the aircraft must be maintained to the highest standard to fulfill these capabilities and the 746th Aircraft Maintenace Unit takes pride in doing just that. Senior Master Sgt. Steven Campanella, 746th AMU production superintendent, ensures his team of maintainers has what they need to perform their jobs.

"We provide mission support by generating safe and reliable aircraft for sorties 24 hours a day," he said.

This deployment is the third for the Keesler Airmen since transitioning to the C-130J in 1999. Sergeant Campanella described some of the challenges he and his Airmen are facing in this deployed environment.

"Seventy-five to 100 percent of our aircraft need to be ready at all times," Sergeant Campanella said. "So we're working 12-hour shifts to support an aggressive flying schedule."

A schedule they've consistently met and even exceeded, said 746th EAS Commander Lt. Col. Donald Buckley.

"We've met 103 percent of our taskings," Colonel Buckley said. "We can't fly the mission without aircraft and the maintainers do a phenomenal job, no matter what the conditions are. We might have a dust storm with 45 mile an hour winds and they will still be out there taking care of business."

Sergeant Campanella also mentioned the extreme temperatures in which the maintenance crews are working. "Back in Mississippi, the temperature rarely gets above 100 degrees. Here it's closer to 120 degrees almost every day." Sergeant Campanella said the 746th EAS is overcoming these challenges through teamwork, keeping morale high by generating appropriate work and rest cycles, and improvising and adjusting to the limited resources and changing conditions common to any deployment. "You have to be creative to survive out here," he said.

Meanwhile, other members of the 746th EAS are busy coordinating and supervising other facets of their mission, such as alerting, scheduling, and launching aircraft. The director of operations' office can therefore be a hectic place to work. "Our mission encompasses every facet of operations to include intelligence, tactics, life support, maintenance coordination, [personnel] service, etc.," said Capt. Elissa Granderson, 746th EAS scheduler.

Captain Granderson echoed Sergeant Campanella's comments about harsh weather conditions. "We keep a close watch on how fatigue and continuity affect our crews and support personnel and try to balance their duty days with down days to keep them rested and ready to support the mission," she said.

Back at Keesler, the operations staff is assigned to the 815th Airlift Squadron, while the maintainers fall under the larger 403rd Maintenance Group. Co-operation between two groups is vital to completing the mission on this deployment. "This is a long-fostered relationship," Colonel Buckley said. "[The operations staff] always tries to keep the maintainers in the loop, which increases their situational awareness and thus helps our mission readiness."

Sergeant Campenella said this deployment will ultimately prove beneficial for him and the Airmen of the 746th EAS.

"This environment allows us to work with new people, learn new things, and understand our specific goals and how we directly impact the mission," he said. "Working in-theater creates a bond between Airmen that allows us to work better as a team."