Airmen provide unique 'open-the-base' capability

by Airman 1st Class Grovert Fuentes-Contreras
86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

5/4/2010 - RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFNS) -- Transforming an abandoned airfield or an austere piece of land into a functional airfield in 12 hours might seem impossible to some, but it's just another day's work for the Airmen in Ramstein's 435th Air Mobility Squadron.

For an airfield to be "functional," command and control, aerial port operations, aerospace ground equipment, communications and maintenance capabilities all must be up and running.

As part of the 435th Air Ground Operations Wing headquartered at Ramstein, 435th AMS planners rapidly deploy light and lean cross-functional mobility teams to establish first-in expeditionary airfield operations.

If the mission alone isn't unique enough, there are numerous qualities inherent in the squadron that makes the unit stand out. One in particular is the variety of career fields, from loadmasters to communications support to aircraft maintainers, that must work together to achieve mission success.

The squadron consists of 70 personnel with 21 different Air Force specialty codes; however each mission dictates the number of personnel and amount of cargo necessary to achieve the task.

"Being a part of the (squadron), you get to see what other (specialists) do to build a base from ground up," said Master Sgt. Rodney Anthony, 435th AMS aircraft maintenance flight chief. "Nothing is more impressive than going (to a place) where there is nothing and within 24 hours we have personnel already working to set-up an operating base."

As part of the overall "open the base" mission of the 435th Contingency Response Group, the squadron is a quick-reaction unit for U.S. Air Forces in Europe. Some recent examples of their work include providing primary base support for a recent medical exercise in Serbia and an annual bilateral training exercise in Bulgaria.

In addition to supporting various exercises in the region, the unit also plays a vital role in support to the warfighter.

"Our mission is unique because we have the capability to immediately respond to a crisis within the AOR," said Maj. Leo Gage, 435th AMS director of operations. "We are an organization with a diverse skill set and even send our own Airmen with special operations personnel for exercises to better prepare them for expeditionary combat support to operations Iraqi (Freedom) and Enduring Freedom."

With such job diversity in the squadron, it also gives Airmen the opportunity to acquire knowledge from each other.

"Having just arrived here, I've realized we are so broad and diverse with an impressive mission," said Capt. Jason Powell, 435th AMS logistics support maintenance officer. "I'm still a maintenance officer, but I'm going to be well-rounded when I leave here. I'm going to have a better understanding of the whole Air Force mission, which is going to make me a better Airman."

One more factor that makes the 435th AMS special is having airborne-qualified Airmen, which helps when an area needs to be surveyed to set up landing capabilities.

"The combined 435th AGOW and 86th Airlift Wing operational readiness exercise scenario in January successfully exemplified the CRG capability to conduct airborne operations and insert an assessment team into an airfield to perform the 'open the base' capability," Major Gage said.

The vision for the unit's leaders is to continue to lead the way in contingency and mobility operations. And, they say, with these Airmen, the mission never truly stops.

"From the time we get called to wheels off the ground is only 12 hours," Sergeant Anthony said. "We are working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year on standby, and we have 12 hours to have our equipment and personnel ready to go and wheels off the ground. That is just phenomenal."