Logistics Airmen aid WA linemen, equip movement to NY

by Master Sgt. Jennifer Buzanowski
92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

11/9/2012 - FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- Nine Airmen from the 92nd Logistics Readiness Squadron processed electrical linemen and their equipment for flights from here to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst so they could help Long Island, N.Y., residents recover from Hurricane Sandy.

Within six hours beginning the evening of Nov. 2, the LRS team processed 19 employee volunteer Bonneville Power Administration and 14 of their support vehicles for flights on a C-5 Galaxy from Travis AFB, Calif., and two C-17 Globemasters from Joint Base Charleston, S.C.

"We practice enough so we knew exactly what we needed to do and how to get it done," said Senior Airman Jonathen Browne, 92nd LRS traffic management specialist, who described how the entire LRS team measured and weighed each vehicle to get the center of balance.

Browne's traffic management office counterparts completed the passenger manifest for the C-5 flight and the cargo manifests for the C-5 and two C-17s. Nothing can be loaded onto an aircraft without the completed manifest, said Browne.

But before a manifest can be completed, the aerial port office completes a load plan that projects which equipment will be loaded into which aircraft.

"Normally our primary mission is preparing the weekly deployers," said Staff Sgt. Israel Martinez, 92nd LRS air transportation specialist, referring to a KC-135 which goes from Fairchild to the Transit Center Manas, Kyrgyzstan each week called an 'iron swap.' "But this was exciting. We were told to stand by at 6 p.m., and by 9 BPA showed up as one big group and I didn't expect to see the aircraft so quickly."

One of Fairchild's installation deployment officers said it may have been coincidence but as soon as the load plan was submitted in the military's logistics system the C-5 aircrew at Travis requested to arrive one hour early.

"I was surprised at how quick things moved," said Michael Dery. "We expected the first aircraft to arrive about 10 hours after we started processing cargo, but 8 hours later the C-5 was here."

Although the C-5 arrived earlier than projected, it left about the time it was originally scheduled. The largest of the utility vehicles had to have its bucket removed in order to fit on the aircraft. Even using shoring - wooden planks that make the incline of the loading ramp less steep - wasn't enough to accommodate the 50,000-pound vehicle without removing the bucket.

"Not knowing what resources they had available in New Jersey, we loaded shoring onto the C-5 so there wouldn't be a delay in offloading the equipment," said 1st Lt. Ashley Reinig, an installation deployment officer, 92nd LRS. "The journey for BPA wasn't going to be over when they got there and we wanted to make sure they weren't going to be held up."

The sense of urgency to help BPA reach Long Island residents ran throughout LRS.

"Even 32 hours into their long duty day they still had smiles on their faces," said Reining.