TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — Aircrew from the 22nd Airlift Squadron stationed at Travis Air Force Base, California, departed for a joint training mission to destinations in the Northeast and Midwest of the United States as part of a Major Command Service Tail Trainer exercise, May 21 - 26, 2021.
They were trained for real-world missions in a low-pressure environment, loading pallets of cargo, Humvees and transporting U.S. Army troops on their journey to mission readiness.
The MSTT leveraged a C-5M Super Galaxy aircraft to maximize training for 22nd AS pilots, engineers and loadmasters while also supporting U.S. Army readiness items, said Capt. Dallin Gray, 22nd AS C-5 pilot and flight commander.
“By planning extended ground training, customizing cargo and supporting total force and joint users, the 22nd AS was able to optimize C-5 mission times and locations to reach training efficiencies — proven to be 300-450% as effective as regular missions for loadmaster and engineer syllabus accomplishment,” he said.
The crew arrived at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where 58 soldiers from the 861st Quartermaster Company were tansported along with 11 pallets of cargo weighing 53,411 pounds.
“The 861st QC provided the 412th Civil Affairs Battalion with parachutes and aerial delivery support,” said Capt. David O’Neil, 861st QC commander. “It allowed both organizations to utilize our training and experience, which betters us as a force,”
During the last leg of the training, 23 soldiers from the 412th CAB and 10 Humvees were loaded and transported to John Glenn International Airport in Columbus, Ohio.
The newly-implemented training, that started in January of this year, has already shown significant signs of success, said Gray.
“The MSTT has proven so effective that current projections predict the Loadmaster (apprentice) backlog to be cleared three years sooner than if no MSTT had been put into practice,” he said.