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Leader of "The Pack"

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Scott Wagers
  • Air Force News Service, Det. 4
SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany --  How do you take a disoriented gaggle of travel-weary passengers along with fifty tons of heavy equipment, high-tech weaponry, and nearly anything else you can strap to a pallet - then stuff it all (nice and neatly mind you) into the back of a war-zone bound cargo plane in under three hours?

Give up? Ask Senior Airman Jason Poteete, an air transportation specialist assigned to the 726th Air Mobility Squadron at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. He's been doing it "non-stop" since December of 2003.

Now, four years after hitting the ground running at Rhein Main Air Base, Germany where he learned his trade pulling 12-hour shifts fresh out of tech school, the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas native says the biggest challenge he faces in his job is getting an aircraft mission-ready and off the ground before its scheduled layover has expired.

"This can be as little as 90 minutes or as long as 24 hours," Airman Poteete said. "There can be multiple planes needing your attention - all at the same time - and the only way to do this successfully is to work together as a team."

Airman Poteete's team at Spangdahlem consists of roughly 10 aerial porters per shift. Once an inbound plane calls in to report its arrival time and cargo load, team members determine where the plane will be going next and what cargo in their inventory needs to accompany that plane to its next destination.

"Because we try to utilize each plane to its max, we must carefully decide which cargo will fit, how to load it, and what assets to use to get the job done before takeoff," he said.

Other team members work to transport passengers to and from the plane, ensuring that billeting is arranged for an overnight stop or box lunches are ready for the continued journey. Also, the plane's expendable supplies like pillows and blankets, ear plugs, and air sickness bags are replenished while floors are cleaned and latrines are emptied out.
At larger, busier airportsair terminals around the Air Force, the air transportation teams average 25 members and could also be tasked with coordinating transport of prisoners and human remains.

Not only does the job come with long hours and a high ops tempo, you're also required to think fast on your feet and know every safety regulation governing how to pack and transport different kinds of cargo - as though they were written on the windshield of your 60K loader.

Why? Because knowing how to properly secure a 25-ton Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle so that it doesn't break loose at 40K feet and endanger the crew and passengers - which likely includes a sleep-deprived squad of Marines sitting at the front of the plane. Further, it's important because there's no end to the plethora of cargo and passengers that aerial porters must be able to accommodate each day.

And that's exactly what Airman Poteete likes about his job and it keeps him getting out of bed every morning at 0330 to start his day working the A-shift.

"I've done everything from servicing Air Force One and meeting the President to having my hands on every kind of war machine to and from down range," he said.

Like the covert mission he worked on a moonless desert night in Afghanistan. He was charged with unloading a plane carrying big-shouldered guys dressed in camouflage uniforms without name tapes or rank.

"They were packing equipment and weapons I'd never seen before. When we opened the door to let these guys out, one of them leaned over to me and said, 'You never saw us here.'"

While some of Airman Poteete's passengers prefer to stay out of the limelight, it's no secret that he and 4,757 of his fellow "Port Dawgs" around the Air Force - all of whom belong to Air Mobility Command, have played a big role in shuffling more than 6.5 million passengers (equivalent to the combined populations of Los Angeles and Houston metro areas) and have helped muscle some 2.8 million tons of cargo (equivalent weight of nearly 30 Nimitz-class aircraft carriers) on over 400,000 sorties since September 11, 2001, according to AMC headquarters.

These numbers are not only impressive, they bear witness to the important role air transportation specialists' play in fueling the fight in the Global War on Terror. And as 21st Expeditionary Mobility Task Force commander, Brigadier General Alfred J. Stewart, will tell you, the ability to provide rapid global mobility is a key factor in winning the fight.

"The Global War on Terror requires agile logistics. This means our forces are constantly working to move personnel, equipment, and weaponry in place to counter or suppress our adversaries who are constantly changing their tactics. As such, we have to be agile enough to rapidly synchronize and integrate air mobility in a changing fight."

The general also added, "On any given day, 70 per cent of all sorties flown in the air tasking order downrange are air mobility sorties." This includes airlifting passengers and cargo, air refueling, air drop, and aeromedical evacuations, and DV airlift.

Hearing those statistics would make anyone in the "2T2" career field stand up and walk tall. But the truth is, none of them would be able to recite those figures because they are too busy getting planes safely off the ground on time with the right personnel and cargo.

In fact, the Air Force's brotherhood of Air Transportation specialists have been pushing passengers and cargo at such a fast pace for such a long time that their demonstrated proficiency has earned them a celebrity status of sorts amongst their fellow NATO counterparts. It's something that Airman Poteete noticed on a recent deployment to Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2007 and he says it culminated as the proudest moment thus far in his career.

While sharing a flight line in Kandahar with other NATO aircrews, Airman Poteete says he and his fellow 2T2's were continually sought out by foreign air transportation troops who would request assistance in helping them load and unload their cargo.

"They could have a whole team of guys and it would take them the whole night to do what I and a few other Airmen could do in less than an hour. They would actually just stand back and watch us work - in awe of what we were doing. Some would ask, 'How'd you learn that?' Some would even get mad because they thought we were show boating. That was about the time I really started respecting what we do in the Air Force," he said.

And we think its high time Port Dawgs gave themselves some credit.
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