Airlift -- It’s a beautiful thing

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
  • 416th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
KARSHI-KHANABAD AIR BASE, UZBEKISTAN (AFPN) --  Since I am on my second deployment in less than two years, I have noticed something about what the Air Force does that I have often taken for granted: airlift.

Why airlift?

Simple. It is the bread and butter of the deployed force. It is one of the most used resources in all of the theaters of operation. On my way to this deployed base just recently, I truly understood that.

As I left the United States in late December, I embarked on what many of us refer to as the “rotator,” a civilian airliner chartered to bring military members to their overseas assignments and deployments.

On my rotator flight, there were Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and Marines, along with other authorized passengers. Over the course of several dozen hours and multiple stops, I had a chance to talk to some of them going overseas, many for the first time.

At our first stop after leaving the United States, I was talking with two security forces troops who were out of the country for the first time.

One of them said, “This is awesome.” The Airman, a native of Illinois who was fresh out of security forces technical school training and being stationed overseas at his first base, showed that raw excitement of being somewhere new, and getting there was all due to airlift.

I sat next to a young Airman, whom I learned was going to be a gunner on an AC-130 Spectre. He was deploying for the first time also. He talked of how intense his training was and how excited he was to be going out on his deployment supporting the war on terrorism. He also stated how impressed he was with the amount of coordination it takes to fly people in and out of the theater. Airlift in action once again.

I also came across numerous National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from across the United States. All of them were headed to a variety of forward operating areas, including my deployed base. Each one I talked to had his or her own unique experience to share about flying the friendly skies throughout the world, courtesy of airlift.

Airlift used throughout the areas of responsibility takes many forms, such as the C-17 Globemaster III, C-130 Hercules, KC-135 Stratotanker, C-5 Galaxy, KC-10 Extender and others. Looking at the big picture, since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom on Oct. 7, 2001 through March 2003, the Air Force flew more than 48,000 airlift missions, moving more than 513,026 passengers and 487,000 short tons of cargo to the Afghanistan area of operations. Now that is airlift in action!

The crowning moment for me during my enlightenment about airlift came from someone I least expected, a member of a foreign military service supporting the multi-national task force in Afghanistan. He said he was “incredibly impressed” with the work the United States has done getting aid and supplies into support progress in Afghanistan, much of it due to airlift. That discussion took place on my last stop before arriving at my deployed base.

My flight into “K-2,” as the base is known to most here, was on a C-130, a plane I rode on many times just a little more than a year ago in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is an airlift workhorse if I have ever seen one.

Touching down on the K-2 runway, I looked back at the C-130 loadmaster do his work, moving around the pallets of cargo. That is when I realized that is where the hard work was done. The work that makes our deployed warriors get to the fight and win the war on terrorism.

Much of the work done by airlifters is done behind the scenes and that is the beautiful thing about it. Because it is done so well, we hardly notice it sometimes. But for me, I certainly won’t take it for granted anymore. Airlift, in any form, is a beautiful thing.