Imagine parking hundreds of cars and trucks in a convenience store parking lot. Now imagine parking those cars if they were the size of C-17 Globemaster IIIs.

That image makes the task facing the transient alert team at the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing here a little clearer.

“It’s kind of like a giant puzzle. You’ve got to make it all fit,” said Staff Sgt. Gordon Torrey, one of six transient alert Airmen in the 455th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron. He is deployed from Pope Air Force Base, N.C.

Each month, their job is to find parking places for an average of 650 transient aircraft that bring cargo, passengers and distinguished visitors to this joint base, currently the hub of activity for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

The problem for transient alert Airmen is the small amount of space to park aircraft that land here but are not assigned here permanently. The 455th AEW boasts a joint flying mission, managing A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, multiple versions of C-130 Hercules and even some Navy EA-6 Prowler aircraft. All of these planes also must share the ramp with Army aviation operations.

This means transient alert, or TA as it is known, must find creative solutions to overcome the lack of aircraft parking on Bagram’s ramp.

TA works very closely with the wing’s command post. The two agencies stay in constant communication via radio, said Tech. Sgt. Michael Leach, the TA day-shift supervisor. Aircraft must have prior permission to land, and pilots radio the command post with their landing times, which then get passed on to TA. Then, TA has to make sure there is a place to park the aircraft, based on its size, cargo and whether it’s carrying distinguished visitors.

“When a plane has a DV, we try to put it on Spot-1, the closest to the passenger terminal,” Sergeant Leach said. “That’s another reason command post is great, because they tell us about DVs coming in. Otherwise, we’d just park the plane anywhere we had space.”

“We coordinate with TA on all the parking spots,” said Master Sgt. Mark Geffre, command post superintendent. “Without these guys helping me and rotating parking spots, we wouldn’t be able to move cargo and passengers efficiently. They’re our eyes and ears on the flightline.”

Sergeants Leach and Torrey start out their day with a plan to park all the aircraft arriving during their 12-hour shift. However, like any contingency operation, the plan must be flexible and allow for unforeseen circumstances throughout the day.

“We try to figure it out in the morning,” Sergeant Torrey said. “We work out a plan, but what happens is the planes miss their scheduled time, or they’re on the ground longer than they’re supposed to be.

“The ones who try to stay overnight are a real problem because we don’t have any overnight parking, that’s when you have to get creative,” he said.

In addition to finding creative solutions to Bagram’s limited parking space, the two sergeants hold crew chief Air Force specialty codes, so minor maintenance on transient aircraft also falls into their mission description.

“We do whatever we can, but if it’s real big, like engines or a major bird strike, we just park them and try to get them maintenance,” Sergeant Leach said.

Safety is their primary concern, especially when dealing with aircraft vital to the war on terror.

“Safety is so important because these planes are the mission and if they break, the mission doesn’t happen,” Sergeant Leach said.

The dedication of the TA troops does not go unnoticed.

“These guys are working hard,” said Chief Master Sgt. Brian Hornback, the 455th Expeditionary Maintenance Group’s superintendent. “They’re making amazing things happen with the equipment and the limited ramp space we have here.”