Base agencies keep rotations moving in right direction

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Karah Manning
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  A question is asked of everyone on a rotator flight that has just landed at a forward-deployed location, “Are you staying here or going downrange?” It is an easy question for new arrivals to answer, but few people, whether inbound or outbound, are aware of the process used to funnel servicemembers in and out of U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility.

This difficult responsibility falls to the people of the 379th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron’s reception control center, 8th Expeditionary Air Mobility Squadron’s passenger operations section and the 379th Expeditionary Mission Support Group’s personnel support for contingency operations office.

The Airmen of the 8th EAMS are responsible for rotators coming in and out of the base.

“With the upcoming (air and space expeditionary force) swap out, our main area of concentration is to expedite the movement of passengers off the commercial jets and move them downrange via theater airlift,” said Master Sgt. Donna Menchaca, 8th EAMS passenger operations superintendent deployed from Travis Air Force Base, Calif.

They also unload passengers and bags off theater airlift so the commercial jets can take them home.

The squadron averages 16,000 passengers a month with numbers exceeding 20,000 when an AEF rotation coincides with an Army or Marines Corps deployment, Sergeant Menchaca said.

Once a flight has landed and that simple question is asked, passengers staying go to the personnel office for immigration into the country and the base.

“Our No. 1 mission is force accountability,” said Capt. Lindsey Goris, PERSCO assistant team chief deployed from Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England. They must account for every person who sets foot in the country.”

Working closely with host-nation immigrations officials, the personnel Airmen enter every new base servicemember into their accountability system, give them a series of orientation briefings and begin each person’s inprocessing checklist.

For the troops continuing their journey, the process is a little trickier. The reception Airmen must coordinate the airlift for these passengers and they must do so in a timely manner because forward-deployed base missions are depending on them.

For about two or three hours, transient passengers complete paperwork, receive a series of briefings to inform them of theater and base “rules of the road” and work with reception Airmen to coordinate airlift to their next location.

“We’re responsible for the reception, staging and onward movement of all transient passengers (here) going into Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa,” said 1st Lt. Phillip Wheeler, 379th Air Expeditionary Wing installation deployment officer, who runs the reception center. “Now, commanders know when their people will arrive, and 90 percent of the time, we’re going to have them at their final destination within 48 hours of arriving here.”

This has not always been the case. In 2004, commanders and their transiting Airmen did not receive definitive arrival and departure dates in many cases. Many Airmen were stuck at the base for long periods of time before they could travel to their next location. These delays also affected Airmen redeploying.

After an examination of the system, U.S. Central Command Air Forces leaders decided changes needed to be made. In the fall, passenger transportation programs were revamped here, said Lieutenant Wheeler who is deployed from RAF Lakenheath.

With a more stringent accountability process the three agencies have been able to reduce transient wait times by 80 percent, and 95 percent of people are on their way to their next location within a day of hitting the ground. In the previous system, it was the passenger’s responsibility to schedule their own onward travel.

Now servicemembers traveling in and out of the area encounter a much smoother process.

“We’ve proven that we can get people through here very quickly,” the lieutenant said. “Now we are the strategic port, at least for the Air Force, in the Middle East.”