726th AMS stays mission ready Published Aug. 28, 2013 By Staff Sgt. Christopher Ruano 52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany -- The 726th Air Mobility Squadron serviced six cargo aircraft in late July which was a first of its kind event. Each aircraft was from a different base, which encompass the total force, involving active duty, Reserve and Air National Guard aircraft bound for operations in support of U.S. Transportation Command. "It's definitely the first time that we had all three here at one time," said U.S. Air Force Capt. Todd Murray, 726th AMS Maintenance Flight commander from San Antonio. "We get tails from the Reserve and Guard in and out frequently, but to have them here all in one day, it was pretty amazing." The aircraft received en-route support from the 726th AMS under the 721st Air Mobility Operations Group and 521st Air Mobility Wing, a tenant unit supported by the 52nd Fighter Wing. The 52nd FW provides support to transient aircrew and service members around the globe. "Our mission here at the 726th AMS is to support US TRANSCOM and Air Mobility Command, and that has to do with mobility, moving missions to and from the desert" explained Murray. "The tails that come through here don't have the Spangdahlem tail flash, they're from the states and they're bringing supplies, service members, bullets, beans to the desert or back home from the desert." Four of these aircraft departed with 278,035 pounds of cargo, 48 people and a critical AC-130 part destined to support contingency operations in CENTCOM. These four aircraft also safely delivered 79 military, family and retired members to their final destination here at Spangdahlem Air Base. Two of these aircraft returned from CENTCOM on the way back to the United States carrying 32 service members, in addition to 53 space-available passengers and more than 104,000 pounds of cargo. The mission is important; it gets aircraft to where they need to be. "Right now, our country is still very heavily involved overseas, and as we try to move them back home, we are going to need a boat-load of aircraft to help support that retrograde out of Afghanistan," said Murray. "If operations shift to somewhere else, then we need to have those assets ready to be placed somewhere else." The 726th AMS team consists of 159 Airmen, civilians and temporary-duty personnel who completed the missions in support of these aircraft. The squadron is unique by the simple fact that it maintains all three core competencies -- aircraft maintenance, aerial port, and command and control -- under one command. When a cargo aircraft lands, the 726th AMS is set into action to ensure the plane is airworthy to make it to its next destination. "When an aircraft comes to us, if it's broken, then we will fix whatever we need to fix," Murray said. "The crew dictates what they would like fixed, and we can tell them right away if we are able to or not." Servicing usually includes refueling the aircraft fuel, liquid oxygen, nitrogen; servicing the lavatories; and loading and unloading cargo depending on the mission. This allows for flexibility and agility in the global air mobility support system to rapidly respond to combat, contingency and humanitarian operations in Europe, Africa, Central-Asia and the Middle East. "We couldn't do this by ourselves," said Murray. "We require the help of the 52nd FW."