Charleston loadmaster keeps cargo moving

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Ben Gonzales
  • Air Force Print News
CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  If his passport were to be stamped, it would have markings from Germany, Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, Italy, Spain, Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Cyprus, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan and Djibouti. And that doesn't show the times that this person has traveled across America from the East to West Coast. The list may be long, but these are just some of the places Airman 1st Class Derrick Maloney has traveled to in the past 18 months.

Airman Maloney is a loadmaster for the 17th Airlift Squadron at Charleston Air Force Base and he helps the base with its mission to deliver people and cargo for warfighters any time and any place.

Carrying up to 170,900 pounds of cargo or up to 18 pallets, the massive C-17 Globemaster IIIs are dispatched from this base, delivering everything from A to Z around the globe. The $200 million planes may be flown by pilots, but it takes the loadmaster to deliver the goods.

"The loadmaster is the center part of the whole aircraft," said Lt. Col. Kevin Knecht, a pilot and the assistant director of operations for the 17th AS. "If we don't have a loadmaster, the cargo is not going to get moved."

To Airman Maloney, people are the plane's most important cargo.

"Passenger safety and comfort is the biggest part of this job," he said. "No matter how tired you are, the comfort of the people always comes first."

But the bulk of the base's mission is to take cargo to servicemembers fighting the war on terrorism. Even though the mission comes first, it comes at a cost as it takes loadmasters and aircrews away from their homes and families.

"Loadmasters average about 170 plus days away from home station," said Airman Maloney. "Most of our trips are for two weeks at a time, but like everyone else, we also fill air expeditionary force deployments for months at a time."

In 2005, Airman Maloney was away from home for more than 200 days. So far in 2006, he has been gone for 132 days, as his wife, Jeema Maloney, and 6-month-old son Tyler stay behind in their home in North Charleston.

"It's hard to have him gone so much, especially since Tyler' birth," said Mrs. Maloney, who served in the Air Force as a C-17 loadmaster. "I didn't worry as much though because I know what he's going through."

"When we are deployed, the unit's spouses' group keeps in contact with Jeema through e-mail and phone calls," Airman Maloney said. "They want to see if she needs anything, and also plan get togethers. We are a pretty tight unit."

Being separated from his family is hard, but the most difficult aspect of being a loadmaster to Airman Maloney is sleep.

"We don't have set sleep patterns because we fly when the mission comes up," he said. "We are expected to sleep when we are in crew rest, but sometimes that can be as little as 12 hours when you are deployed forward. It is really hard to regulate sleep when you can fly at any time of the day."

Another challenge Airman Maloney sees for each mission is filling the back end of a C-17.

"It's like a jig saw puzzle. It's a continuous challenge because you never know what you are going to get when you open the door to the plane," said the Airman who was born at the Naval Hospital in Charleston and is the son of an Air Force C-141 Starlifter loadmaster. "You have to take all the cargo and manipulate it to fit inside the plane.

"But what really makes this job unique are the people," Airman Maloney said. "We really check each other's backs and look out for one another. (Loadmasters) are just part of the team, and it takes the whole base to make our missions possible."