86th CRG pulls Soldiers out of Africa

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Tracy Giles
  • 435th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
ATAR, Mauritania (AFPN) --  Twenty-seven Airmen and one Soldier traveled down to Africa on March 23 to remove special forces Soldiers from the countries of Mali and Mauritania.

The Airmen were from the 86th Contingency Response Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and the Soldier was from the 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) in Stuttgart, Germany.

“We brought them down, and now we’re bringing them back,” said Capt. Chris Miller, mission commander for the 86th CRG.

To make this operation happen, the captain said intensive planning and coordination began two weeks before the mission launch.

Once the initial pieces were in place, the 86th CRG organized two teams of 14, led by team chiefs Tech. Sgt. Eric Wilhelm and Master Sgt. David Baldridge, and sent them to four locations: Gao; Bamako; Timbuktu, Mali; and here.

The teams include aerial porters, aircraft and vehicle mechanics, communication specialists, medics, special agents, security forces, an aerospace ground equipment supervisor and a hazardous material load certifier.

Sergeant Baldridge’s team went to Gao and Bamako to retrieve 30 Soldiers and their supplies, and Sergeant Wilhelm’s team went to Timbuktu and here for the remaining 38.

The Soldiers were in Africa for nearly three months training African soldiers to protect their countries borders and combat terrorism supporting the Pan Sahel Initiative

“The key to any deployment mission is serious attention to detail and constant communication,” Captain Miller said. “There are a whole lot of moving parts and changing factors on a daily basis.”

To ensure constant communication for the teams, a main operating base at Moron Air Base, Spain, was set up to coordinate and track the mission.

Sergeant Wilhelm said the mission has been a huge success.

“Our teams work very well together,” he said. “Everyone is trained to do everyone else’s job and pitch in wherever they are needed.”

Sergeant Wilhelm said the morale and unity of the teams are very high despite both teams setting up bare-base locations at Gao and Timbuktu.

“We’re so far from established airfields and limited in the amount of supplies we can bring,” Sergeant Wilhelm said. “We have just enough for people to live on and not much more.”

Each team handles an average of one to two airplanes a day, building and guarding pallets, readjusting and weighing loads, developing load plans, and repairing planes and equipment.

When the two-week mission is complete, nine C-130 Herucles and two C-17 Globemaster IIIs will have flown more than 60 sorties and moved nearly 1 million pounds of people and supplies.

“Everyone knows what they need to do,” said Staff Sgt. Sean Stackhouse, a communications specialist. “We all work together, get the job done, and then we’re good to go.”