Mobility Airman profile: C-17 loadmaster in heart of support for Operation Tomodachi

Published March 22, 2011
By Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
Air Mobility Command Public Affairs

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- He's been busy flying on whatever missions he's been tasked to support for him, his fellow aircrew and their deployed C-17 Globemaster III while in Japan. Master Sgt. Stephen Mallory's role, along with his fellow aircrew members, is to provide humanitarian airlift support for Operation Tomodachi following the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck Japan on March 11.

Deployed from the 517th Airlift Squadron at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Sergeant Mallory is a C-17 loadmaster. He is among numerous mobility Airmen from the 517th AS who deployed to support Operation Tomodachi within days after the disastrous earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Sergeant Mallory was also part of some of the first C-17 missions to land at Sendai Airport, Japan, on March 20 following the disaster, according to a 374th Airlift Wing Public Affairs news report from Yokota Air Base, Japan. Those missions, the report showed, delivered an all-terrain forklift which in turn helped download supplies that included four pallets of water and six pallets of blankets and food for the Japanese people.

One of Sergeant Mallory's fellow aircrew Airmen from the 517th AS, C-17 pilot Capt. Charles Morris, said in the same news report, "Opening Sendai to C-17s is a must for Japan and to demonstrate our resolve and commitment to the Japanese people."

In supporting Operation Tomodachi, which is U.S. Pacific Command's name for the operation derived from a Japanese word for friendship, Sergeant Mallory is doing exactly what he is trained to do, according to his official Air Force job description for the 1A2X1 career field.

Loadmasters like Sergeant Mallory accomplish loading and off-loading aircraft functions and perform pre-flight and post-flight of aircraft and aircraft systems. They also perform loadmaster aircrew functions, compute weight and balance and other mission specific qualification duties, and provide for safety and comfort of passengers and troops, and security of cargo, mail and baggage during flight.

Loadmasters like Sergeant Mallory are also skilled in a variety of abilities, the job description states. For example, in determining quantity of cargo and passengers or troops to be loaded and proper placement in aircraft, loadmasters compute load and cargo distribution. They also compute weight and balance, and determine the amount of weight to be placed in each compartment or at each station. To do this they consider factors such as fuel load, aircraft structural limits and emergency equipment required.

In the deployed environment, loadmasters like Sergeant Mallory are trained to conduct cargo and personnel airdrops according to directives. They are trained to attach extraction parachutes to cargo and platforms and inspect cargo and platforms, extraction systems and connect static lines. They also check tie-downs, parachutes, containers, suspension systems and extraction systems to ensure proper cargo extraction or release.

To do their job while deployed or at home station, loadmasters have to maintain a wide array of mandatory job knowledge, the job description states. They must know the types, capacities and configuration of transport aircraft, emergency equipment and in-flight emergency procedures, personal equipment and oxygen use, communications, current flying directives, interpreting diagrams, loading charts and technical publications, border agency clearance dispensing and preserving food aboard aircraft, and cargo restraint techniques.

At his home station with the 517th AS at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, the squadron is part of the 3rd Wing. According to a fact sheet about the 517th AS, the mission of the squadron is to provide tactical airlift operating C-17 and C-12F aircraft. "The squadron's primary missions are to support worldwide airlift, airdrop and air-land requirements while providing airlift for theater deployed forces and resupply of remote Alaskan long-range radar sites" in support of U.S. Pacific Command, North American Defense Command and U.S. Transportation Command.

With Operation Tomodachi, it is a continuing 24-hour-a-day operation, reports show. And, Airmen like Sergeant Mallory continue to support the effort "to help get the Japanese people get the things they need to get back on their feet."

(Senior Airman Michael J. Veloz, 374th Airlift Wing Public Affairs, contributed to this report.)