Aerial porters at Afghan airfield overcome challenges to keep mission going

Published Aug. 23, 2011
By Senior Airman David Carbajal
451st Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- With the busiest single runway in the world, it's easy to imagine the difficulties of launching and recovering aircraft. But for some, their main concern is the aircraft's cargo which comes with complications of its own.

"We're responsible for everything on the aircraft ... from the pallets to the passengers," Master Sgt. Raymond Sambor, 451st Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron aerial port duty officer.

In May, the flight broke records with more than 19,000 tons of cargo uploaded and/or downloaded during a single month. Since May 1, the flight has loaded and assisted the distribution of more than 6,700 bundles of supplies to forward operating bases in Afghanistan's regional command south.

"We're able to move all of this cargo because our guys are the best of the best," said Sambor, who is deployed from the 35th Aerial Port Squadron at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. "If you're a 2T2, this is your Super Bowl. If you can handle it here, you can handle it anywhere."

The Air Force's "2T2s" are air transportation managers, and currently 83 of them are assigned to the 451st ELRS aerial port. The aerial port flight members are broken down into even smaller units: ramp, cargo, passenger services, load planning, special planning, and air terminal operations center; all of which perform specific tasks that contribute to unit's mission success, said Sambor.

Aerial port airmen, at any given time, are uploading or downloading cargo from as many as eight aircraft on our five cargo ramps, said Sambor, who is native of Turnersville, N.J. Over the past four months, the aerial port flight has moved nearly 70,000 tonnages of cargo and nearly 80,000 passengers.

One of the biggest challenges of being aerial port here is the five geographically separated ramps, he said. "Since the flightline separates us from some of our ramps, we have to drive more than three miles around to get to them."

The physical distance between the aircraft spots isn't the only obstacle to their operations.

"We share the road ways with taxiing aircraft and, since their take-off times are crucial, they take precedence over our cargo loaders," Sambor added.

Kandahar Airfield's runway averages a takeoff or landing every two minutes.

With that precedence, the loaders can be delayed for several minutes while waiting for those aircraft to pass.

"With the awesome team we have here, we're able to make up that time to ensure the aircraft has what it needs and when it needs it," said Chief Master Sgt. James Shay, aerial port superintendent. "However, given the challenging environment, safety is always the number one consideration when working on the ramp. I would rather take 10 extra minutes to load an aircraft than risk the safety of our Airmen."

This has been a constant message to the aerial port team -- a message that is echoed at every level of the organization, said Shay, who is also a member of the 35th APS at Joint Base MDL.

The unit expects even more production once the new "Strat" ramp opens later this fall. The ramp will make spots for eight C-130 Hercules or four C-17 Globemaster IIIs.

"We're like FedEx, UPS and American Airlines all in one," said Sambor.