Providing critical support to the AOR

Published March 10, 2016
By Tech. Sgt. James Hodgman
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar -- A team of nearly 40 Airmen at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, loads and off-loads thousands of pounds of cargo into aircraft almost daily.

The Airmen assigned to the 8th Expeditionary Air Mobility Squadron's Ramp Services section are responsible for loading and unloading a wide variety of cargo including equipment, medical supplies, munitions and blood onto aircraft needed at bases across the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.

In February, the team loaded more than 3,500 tons of cargo onto U.S. aircraft, including more than 1,000 tons of munitions valued at approximately $81 million.

Senior Airman Christian Molenhoff, 8 EAMS aerial port expediter from Indianapolis, Indiana, explained the loading process.

"When we get to the plane, we conduct exterior and interior inspections looking for anything that may prevent us from loading or unloading the aircraft," Molenhoff said. "We make sure the rails are operating properly and we review the load plan to ensure we don't need to change anything."

"From there we prepare the aircraft for loading and depending on the weight of the cargo, we apply struts so the aircraft can handle more weight," Molenhoff added. "When we load, we don't want to tip an aircraft, so it's important we load the aircraft properly and safely."

Safety is a primary concern, Molenhoff said.

"Everything we do on the ground makes sure the aircraft operates safely. We kind of have lives in our hands when we load aircraft, because if anything slips out of place or a chain breaks and the cargo shifts that could alter the safety of flight," he said. "Safety is our number one priority."

Another important priority is timeliness, said Staff Sgt. Justin Bradford, 8 EAMS load team chief from Loundon, Tennessee.

"We are always under a deadline and meeting those deadlines can be quite a challenge, especially when we have to upload or download multiple planes," Bradford said. "We do our best to ensure each aircraft is ready to go within an hour of take-off."

Meeting that goal proved challenging for the 8 EAMS Ramp Services team on Feb. 15. On that day, Molenhoff and his fellow Airmen loaded or off-loaded cargo for seven aircraft; all within five hours.

"A C-17 landed with 16 pallets of munitions and once we finished the offload for that aircraft, we had to quick turn a C-130," Molenhoff said.

Quick turn implies an aircraft lands, the cargo is quickly off-loaded and the aircraft is loaded with new cargo, so it can depart within approximately 90 minutes.

While one team worked on loading cargo onto the C-130, other teams were dispatched to upload two C-17's with munitions.

"We were going back and forth between aircraft, quickly trying to get everything done," Molenhoff said.

In the middle of all this cargo movement, the ramp services team learned a C-17 was being diverted to support an aeromedical evacuation mission.

"Dispatch contacted us and told us the aircraft was being diverted, so we dropped what we were doing because that's an emergency, and we had to get that aircraft ready," Bradford said.

The C-17 identified for the AE mission was half-full. It took Bradford and his team 45 minutes to off-load the aircraft and configure it to support AE operations. Once accomplished, the teams returned to finish loading and off-loading other aircraft.

"We are here to get the mission done, to get cargo from one location to another and that's very rewarding," Bradford said. "Knowing we did our job means a lot to me, to know we're out here loading and unloading cargo, supporting AE missions...we send everything from munitions to medical supplies to help our fellow service members."

"Everything that's in our load plans is being loaded and unloaded for a purpose," Bradford added. "To know I'm helping people in need is very rewarding."

Master Sgt. Raymond Graves, 8 EAMS noncommissioned officer in charge of Ramp Services from Clover, South Carolina, said he's proud of his Airmen.

"There's no such thing as a typical day in ramp services," Graves said. "We may support 18 missions today and 30 tomorrow, every day is different and my Airmen come together to get the mission done without complaint."

"We are made up of reserves, Air National Guard and active-duty Airmen, often the biggest challenge is molding the team into one, but this team, over the last two months is by far the best group I've ever worked with."