CRW assessment team evaluates cargo solutions for stakeholders in Afghanistan

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Tracy DeMarco
  • Farah Provincial Reconstruction Team
FARAH PROVINCE, Afghanistan (AFNS) --  As President Barack Obama announces his decision to commit an additional 30,000 American servicemembers to the fight in Afghanistan, one question remains. How?

Evaluation groups such as the 12-person airfield assessment team from the 621st Contingency Response Wing at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., worked hard to answer that question as they surveyed forward operating locations throughout Afghanistan Oct. 29 to Dec. 8.

Col. Gordon Bridger, the assessment team leader, said the mission was to find a way to increase mobility velocity and throughput in Afghanistan, or find ways to move large amounts of people and equipment quickly into the theater.

With a presidential timeline set for 18 months, speed is important, which is why Colonel Bridger's team took the fast-paced mission throughout the country of Afghanistan. During their 45-day tour, the assessment team visited multiple locations throughout Afghanistan.

In addition to looking for theater-wide issues, the team assessed each location for its ability to accept and sustain increased amounts of people and equipment. Some of the items inspected include security, airport operations, landing zone surface conditions, fuel capabilities, cargo movement abilities, fire and rescue capacity and the infrastructure needed to support additional people.

Although the assessment team contains Air Force experts, the focus of their work reaches far beyond their branch of service.

"The objective is to remember that Spanish, German, NATO, U.S. Army and all the other stakeholders in this war operate with different rules," said Colonel Bridger. "We try to understand that and find solutions that will work for everyone involved."

With a broad-based list of operations to inspect and only two to three days at each base to gather information, it's no wonder that the team had to remain flexible throughout the trip.

"We can all fill each other's roles," said Capt. Luke Stumme, the civil engineer on the assessment team. "That's what's really great about this team, we train a lot together," he said.

"We maximize each position," said Capt. Jay Michaels, the airfield management inspector on the team.

Due to the nature of the 621st CRW's mission there is only a twelve-hour window in which an assessment team could be dispatched to locations around the globe whether for war-time support or humanitarian relief. Colonel Bridger's team was given three hours to assemble and depart for Afghanistan.

"On the flight over, we're sitting there reading, actually mission planning on the C-17 (Globemaster III)," said Captain Stumme. "The other thing that's pretty cool about our team is we're just one C-130 (Hercules) capable," he said, "so we can load all our equipment, all our people on one C-130 and we are completely self sustainable."

Now, that the team has visited all established airfields with a major military presence in Afghanistan, the team will prepare to brief the International Security Assistance Force commander with their results. The actionable items they've discovered can then be implemented to get more forces into the fight and then sustain them to win.