Airmen, Soldiers team up to move payload

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Sean E. Cobb
  • 447th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFPN) --  Airmen and Soldiers here are joining forces to get passengers and cargo in and out of Baghdad International Airport rapidly.

Airmen from the 447th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron’s aerial port flight and Soldiers from the 368th Cargo Transfer Company’s 4th Platoon and from the 386th Movement Control Team work together to expedite the flow of people and cargo through the airport, said 1st Lt. David Auretto, the aerial port flight’s commander.

“We push an average of 20,000 passengers and (4 million pounds) a month,” Lieutenant Auretto said.

Although the Air Force has the majority of planes that actually move the passengers and cargo, they could not do the job without the help of their Army counterparts, Lieutenant Auretto said.

“Considering the number of people we have in the [aerial port] flight, we couldn’t accomplish this mission without the Army’s help,” he said.

With all that cargo flowing through the airport, someone has to make sure the process gets off to a good start -- a task that falls to the 368th CTC’s 4th Platoon.

“We make sure the cargo is palletized right,” said Army Spc. Anthony China, a 368th CTC cargo specialist. After supervising and assisting Soldiers who load up their own cargo, the transfer company ensures the pallet fits aircraft load requirements.

When the Soldiers are done, they call on Airmen from the aerial port flight cargo processing section to conduct a joint inspection and accept pallets for flight.

It is important there is a system of checks and balances. If a pallet is configured improperly, it could be rejected by the aircraft loadmaster and not go out on time, or it could damage an aircraft, said Staff Sgt. Randy Lee, a 447th ELRS cargo processor.

“Each aircraft requires pallets [to] be built a special way,” he said.

The Soldiers and Airmen conduct about 400 joint inspections a month, said Army 2nd Lt. Melissa Hege, the transfer company’s detachment commander.

Joining inspections are not the only times the Airmen and Soldiers work together, Specialist China said.

“Sometimes we have large, bulky cargo …,” he said. “In those cases, we have to put our heads together and figure out what to do with it.”

The 386th MCT Soldiers process inbound and outbound cargo, and they track and trace cargo for all the services, government agencies and coalition partners, said Army 1st Lt. Erin Humelsine, the team’s operations officer.

They processed and tracked more than 1,000 pallets and vehicles since March, Lieutenant Humelsine said.

Operations at the airport require the people to work as a seamless team to make the airports challenges transparent to their customers, said Army Sgt. Shane Livingstone, noncommissioned officer in charge of the 386th MCT day shift.

“Sure, our services sometimes do things differently,” Sergeant Livingstone said. “But we adapt well to get the job done.”

The 386th MCT Soldiers also process the Army’s share of passenger traffic, Sergeant Livingstone said. Soldiers continually transit the airport for deployment, redeployment and emergency leaves, for which the unit arranges travel plans, he said.

A big part of the Army passenger load through the airport is dedicated to two morale programs, the U.S. Central Command rest and relaxation program and the fighter management pass program, said Senior Airman Michael Pietrantonio, a 447th ELRS passenger services journeyman.

“For these Soldiers, every minute they are away from their unit counts, so we try and get them signed up and on their way as fast as we can,” Airman Pietrantonio said.

The everyday working relationship with the Soldiers really pays off when things go wrong, Airman Pietrantonio said.

“Not long ago, we had some Soldiers coming through here who were injured in a convoy attack,” he said. “Some of them needed to get back to their unit, some needed to get to medical care in Germany. We all scrambled and made it happen.”