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Travis aerial porters help move emergency response personnel, cargo

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TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (USTCNS) --- Almost immediately following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., requests began pouring in for Travis AFB support in transporting everything from blood supplies and humanitarian assistance supplies to urban search and rescue teams, U.S. Army equipment and more.

When equipment and supplies began leaving Travis, personnel assigned to the 60th Aerial Port Squadron kicked into high gear.

The first flight from Travis heading toward the East Coast occurred as soon as noon on the day of the attacks. A Travis C-5 was dispatched to pickup and deliver three Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.

Later the same day, Travis launched three additional aircraft: one to deliver a Sacramento-based Office of Emergency Services task force and their equipment; another to deliver three Travis critical care transport teams; and a third aircraft was launched to pickup and deliver portable hospital equipment from Texas.

According to 60th APS superintendent Chief Master Sgt. John Buchanan, since before the first aircraft departed Travis, aerial porters here have not slowed down.

From Sept. 11 through Sept. 16, 60th APS personnel handled more than 53 tons of cargo and numerous emergency responders, from OES search and rescue teams and critical care teams to Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel and officials from the departments of justice, energy and transportation.

The squadron also learned that their efforts within the past six months to train local OES search and rescue mobilization teams paid big dividends this past week. According to Staff Sgt. Willie Thompson and Staff Sgt. Aaron Esgana, both assigned to the 60th APS special handling section, Travis aerial porters trained the Sacramento, Menlo Park and Oakland search and rescue mobilization teams to properly prepare pallets and inspect cargo prior to shipment on Air Force aircraft.

Thompson said when local SAR teams deployed from Travis in support of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, their equipment was fairly disorganized in regards to Air Force air worthiness standards.

This time around, Thompson said the OES teams were near perfect. Their pallets were properly loaded, marked and secured. He said from the inspection area to the aircraft, it took only one hour to load the SAR cargo.

"The SAR teams were eager to learn our procedures and we were eager to teach them," Thompson said. "That training really paid off this week."

But equipment and emergency services personnel weren't the only "cargo" the 60th APS helped deliver to the East Coast.

The chief said his squadron also helped return a Marine Corps lance corporal from Korea to New York to search for his father, one of the missing New York firefighters.

Buchanan said he and his airmen have dealt with heart-wrenching stories like this every day since the terrorist attacks. But he says there may be a small silver lining.

"Many people are saying this is a sad time in the history of America, but it's also the proudest hour for some of our young troops in the military. They've done an admirable job in responding to this emergency," said the chief. "And the lessons learned from these attacks will be carried down to their children and their children's children."

Buchanan said this isn't the first time Travis aerial porters have responded in a time of tragedy and it won't be the last. And he said his airmen wouldn't rest until the job is done.

"There's no better mission in life than taking care of our fellow American and seeing the results of your actions first hand," added the chief. "We're prepared to do whatever the mission calls for. It's sometimes a sad mission, but it's an important mission."

In addition to supporting the search and recovery efforts on the East Coast, the 60th APS continues to support its normal, day-to-day taskings, it's normal for his squadron to handle 40,000 pieces of cargo and 10,000 to 11,000 passengers each month, Buchanan said.

In addition to the channel missions and support of the search and recovery efforts in New York and Washington, the chief said Travis APS personnel are also assisting base security forces with vehicle screenings at the front gate. He said following the terrorist attacks last week, aerial porters here have been working 12-hour shifts -- 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Although much of the spotlight has been placed on the 60th APS' special handling section (preparing the cargo), passenger terminal operations (processing emergency services personnel) and ramp services (loading the cargo onto the aircraft), Thompson said it takes every section within the aerial port squadron - including load planners, fleet management, information control, Airlift Transportation Operations Center and cargo processing - to get the job done.

"Everyone plays a big part in making the whole process work," said Thompson.

(FROM AIR MOBILITY COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS)

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