Bagram aerial porters: 'They like to move it, move it'

Published Aug. 23, 2011
By Staff Sgt. John Wright
455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- Moving 1,300 passengers and 600 tons of cargo in a day might sound like a monumental achievement to some, but for one of busiest aerial port units in the Department of Defense, that's just an average day's work.

The 455th Expeditionary Aerial Port Squadron's mission is moving passengers and cargo all throughout Afghanistan. More than 80 percent of all people and supplies traveling through the country come through 455th EAPS.

"We supply the fight," said Lt. Col. Daniel Lemon, 455th EAPS commander. "Sometimes people who aren't familiar with EAPS think we just move pallets. There is so much more that goes into it and our Airmen are force multipliers who ensure our joint partners have what is required to fight and win."

To manage such a dynamic mission, the 455th EAPS is broken down into five major sections. First, there is the passenger services section that moves people and their baggage. The special handling section prepares weapons, ammunition, vehicles, blood, registered mail and other sensitive items for airlift. Ramp services is responsible for loading and offloading of pallets, cargo or equipment, airdrop bundles and vehicles from various aircraft. The short take-off and landing section manages loading smaller aircraft with supplies for forward operating bases; and the Air Terminal Operations Center is the nerve center responsible for managing it all.

"Many times when we talk about airpower, we think of it terms of kinetic abilities, but airpower in this case dominates distance and time," said Lemon, a Las Vegas native deployed from the 23rd Logistics Readiness Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, Ga. "Afghanistan is landlocked. How do you get food, bullets, weapons and sustainment to the troops? The answer is through airlift. All our sections come together seamlessly to make that happen."

The "port dawgs" of the 455th EAPS, as they are sometimes called, recently set a record for the most airdrop bundles in one week at 767. Additionally in July, they loaded 1,200 tons of ammunition, smashing the previous monthly record of 747. The unit is also on pace to break last year's record of more than 500,000 passengers moved.

The efforts of the aerial port Airmen also garnered them the 2011 Air Combat Command and Air Force-level Verne Orr Award. The award recognizes an Air Force active duty, guard or reserve unit making the most effective use of its human resources.

A big part of the 455th EAPS mission is integrating with the joint force to coordinate supplying the fight -- an effort that is deeply appreciated by the Army.

"Without them processing and moving our people and supplies, we couldn't do our mission," said Army Maj. Chad Blacketer, Combined Joint Task Force 1, joint transportation officer. "The command team here thinks very highly of all their efforts. We consider them a critical part of our team."

In addition to helping out the Army, the 455th EAPS also works with coalition forces to move their people and supplies. They also provide critical aerial port training to the Afghan National Army Air Force.

"We bring ANAAF personnel here to help them get a feel for how we do business," said Chief Master Sgt. Randy Reynolds, 455th EAPS superintendent. "We show them how to properly process vehicles and cargo for air shipment."

The training partnership with Afghan allies is one aspect that Lemon sees key to helping build up and establish the ANAAF.

"We're building partnership capability," Lemon said. "We are teaching them to mobilize and project their forces throughout their country."

With the advent of ANAAF standing on its own, another challenge that presents itself to the 455th EAPS is the gradual drawdown of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

"It's a huge undertaking," Lemon said. "But we are currently developing a plan and taking the challenge head on. We are working with the Air Mobility Division, the Central Command Deployment Distribution Operations Center, the Tanker Airlift Control Center and other DOD organizations to make sure we support the drawdown as efficiently and effectively as we can."

Reynolds, a New York native deployed from the 621st Contingency Response Wing at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., echoed his commander's words.

"The challenge is we can't have 20,000 people show up one day and try to leave," Reynolds said. "So we are working hard to put a structure in place to make it happen on an efficient scale."

One of the Airmen working hard on the flightline to move people, cargo and support the drawdown is Staff Sgt. Dane Niehus, 455th EAPS aerial port specialist.

"It's extremely challenging," said Niehus, a Newburg, Ore., native deployed from the 433rd Airlift Wing, at Lackland AFB. "We work with what we have, but we do a good job of making it happen."

Niehus said getting to send people home and the experience of getting to see a wide spectrum of DOD airpower up close, keeps him motivated.

"I love my job," Niehus said. "Where else could you experience all this? It may seem like a simple thing, but I've never seen someone happier than a person who's been here 12 months getting on a plane. I get to tell them, 'You're going home to your family.' The smile on his or her face makes it all worthwhile."

Passengers going home to their families will soon be able to take advantage of a brand-new passenger terminal here, set to open at the end of August. But in the mean time, the Port Dawgs will continue to "move it, move it."

Overall, the 455th EAPS Airmen quietly go about their business of supplying the fight to ensure Soldiers, Airmen, Marines and Sailors have what is required to sustain the fight in Afghanistan.

As Senior Master Sgt. Wayne Donnelly, 455 Operations Superintendent puts it, "We push freedom, one pallet at a time."

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Bagram aerial porters: 'They like to move it, move it'