Crew Moves Over 60,000 Passengers Through Base Every Month
The war may be fought in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of
Afghanistan, but for most troops and cargo heading into theater, it
starts on a small air strip just outside of Kuwait City,
Kuwait.
At the small base that supports the Theater Gateway -- the
military group in Kuwait charged with getting troops and goods in
and out of Iraq and Afghanistan -- about 85 airmen from the Air
Force's 386th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron work
around the clock supporting the warfighter from behind the
lines.
"If I'm not doing my job, I'm doing a disservice to the Air
Force, and I'm not getting cargo and personnel out to the fight.
It's huge," said Air Force 1st Lt. Lydia Chebino, the aerial port
commander. "Mission success is getting their stuff to them as
quickly as possible."
Chebino and her crew work day and night, seven days a weeks
shipping out anything that will fit on a plane, she said. The large
mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles known as MRAPs roll
regularly into the C-17s. Helicopter replacement blades and
military working dogs also make the list, along with tons of other
cargo and thousands of troops.
The logistics readiness officer from Texas joined the Air Force
looking for a challenge and wanting to travel. Now she finds
herself deployed to Kuwait and in charge of operations as the
largest supplier of troops and cargo of any air portal in the
region.
"It's phenomenal. I don't think we take the time to stop and
think 'We moved 2,000 passengers today,'" Chebino said. "It's
pretty amazing to see what my flight does."
Chebino's airmen don't control the flights or the incoming cargo
and personnel. They oversee the movement of cargo and troops that
come in and fly out on the military aircraft.
Every month, the crew moves 60,000 passengers in and out of the
base, about 6,000 tons of cargo and supports 1,500 sorties of
aircraft, mainly C-130 Hercules and the C-17 Globemaster IIIs, she
said.
Massive databases track the numbers of troops and the types and
destinations of cargo. All of the data is scanned into a tracking
system, similar to a grocery store scanning system, and it can be
accessed by units around the world. Nothing sits on the line longer
than 72 hours, Chebino said.
"We've gotten really smart with our in-transit visibility," she
said.
Crewmembers, self-nicknamed the "Port Dogs," work 12-hour
shifts, splitting the day so each gets its share of the blistering
summer heat. Besides the heat, the job comes with other inherent
dangers. Moving tons of cargo with heavy equipment can be a
dangerous mix for poorly placed arms and fingers. But, Chebino
said, the crew has completed more than 2,000 missions in the past
three months without a safety incident.
Although her airmen are not on the frontline of the fight,
Chebino said they understand the overall impact their mission has
on the war efforts, and are intensely proud of the crew's job.
"They just know the mission and they work it and they do a damn
good job," she said. "We never close our doors -- holidays,
birthdays, you name it -- and we're pushing through."
(Aero-News thanks Fred W. Baker III, American Forces Press
Service)