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CAFB delivers 2,000 MRAPs

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jennifer Arredondo
  • 437th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  Charleston AFB recently delivered its 2,000th Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles to warfighters overseas.

"Our No. 1 priority is to ship these life-saving vehicles to our servicemembers in harm's way," said Col. John "Red" Millander, 437th Airlift Wing commander. "The men and women of Team Charleston have stepped up to this challenge and are delivering MRAPs in record time. We're not only meeting our goals, but consistently exceeding them."

As the only Air Force base delivering MRAPs to deployed locations, the base, and specifically the 437 APS, have met and exceeded Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' goal to deliver 1,500 MPAPs by the end of 2007.

"It takes a motivated team effort to seamlessly and efficiently transport these MRAPs in a timely manner," said 2nd Lt. Norman Yu, 437 APS Air Terminal Operations Center OIC. "We are sending these life-saving vehicles out to the warfighter as quickly as we are getting them in."

Along with sending these vehicles to support Army and Marine units, they are now being shipped to Air Force units. To date, 17 MRAPs have been delivered to Airmen.

Each MRAP goes through a joint inspection by aerial port Airmen and contractors. The Airmen then accomplish a load plan to calculate weight limitations and proper center of balance. Finally, the MRAPs are loaded and strapped down on a C-17, C-5 or a Russian AN124 and shipped to the deployed location.

"[To be a part of this process] is something special for the 'Port Dawgs,'" said Lieutenant Yu. "When they are reading about this remarkable era in the history books, they can say, 'I was there ... I helped make this happen.'"

"We hear numerous success stories about the MRAPs," he said. "That's when it becomes clearly evident and real that what we are doing here in Charleston is truly saving lives and making a difference over there. "