Bagram aircrew closes second base together

by Staff Sgt. Stephenie Wade
455th Air Expeditionary Wing Pubic Affairs

10/29/2013 - BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan  -- The ground below them was desolate and resembled a ghost town. Even the air traffic control tower was empty as a C-130 Hercules landed on Forward Operating Base Salerno's dirt runway to pick up the last service members who would fly out of the base.

The six Airmen aboard the C-130 assigned to the 744th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron didn't find out till the day prior they would be the last aircrew to take off from the forward operating base on the eastern border with Pakistan.

"This mission was unique because we were closing down a base and (we couldn't) really coordinate with anyone in advance," said Staff Sgt. Matt Pockette, a loadmaster deployed from Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., and native of Bloomington, Ind. " We had to deal with people walking up to the aircraft at the last minute to get on with extra baggage and cargo. That required us to recalculate the weight on the ground to ensure the aircraft was balanced. Our overall amount was 250 passengers, two all-terrain vehicles and 2,500 pounds of baggage."

Salerno was one of the most dangerous bases in the region and nicknamed "Rocket City" for its volume of rocket attacks.

Staff Sgt. Joshua Hammer, flight engineer, said all the passengers were excited and yelling "good bye Salerno" as the plane took off.

This isn't the first base the crew has shut down together.

"Prior to Salerno, we shut down Forward Operating Base Kunduz," said Senior Airman Bradley Price, loadmaster deployed from Little Rock AFB and native of Anderson, S.C. "It feels good when you see how happy everyone is to get out of there and be a part of a mission like this."

The mission was not only an event the passengers wouldn't forget, but a major milestone for the aircrew as well.

"It's the assault field of Afghanistan and to be the last C-130 mission onto that field, its like leaving a legacy because in the future all aircrew coming out of school or (heading) on their first deployment are not guaranteed to experience that," said Hammer, deployed from Wyoming Air National Guard and a native of Mesa, Ariz.

From the cockpit, the final mission to Salerno was more routine.

"As a squadron, we fly into Salerno a lot, except this was the last mission any aircraft would ever fly into or off the base," said Capt. Therese Landin, the aircraft commander deployed from Little Rock AFB and native of Fredericksburg, Va.

According the crew, landing at Salerno was not easy because the base is surrounded by mountains and the runway is made of gravel.

"Salerno's runway is one we train for at home station because it's made of gravel and when you take off it's at a slope along with obstacles you have to clear immediately," said Capt. Kimberly Novak a navigator deployed from Little Rock AFB and native of Tucson, Ariz. "Gravel will change how you take off or land an airplane. If the gravel is wet it can determine if we land or not, but during this mission we had no ground support [so we had to] check from overhead."

However, aircrews use training to plan missions around the terrain in Afghanistan.

"For example, for this mission we knew we would be gas limited so we allotted a time window on how long we would allow members to come up to the plane to load," said Novak.

This was the first deployment for copilot 1st Lt. Domingo Astiasaran and one he said he will not forget.

"Back in Cheyenne you always hear people talk about the Salerno," said Astiasaran, deployed from Wyoming Air National Guard and native of Hartford, Conn. "My first time flying into Salerno was at night and it was really exciting. It's cool to be on the tail end of it now seeing how everyone works together to complete the retrograde process."