BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (USTCNS) --- This airfield, the new workplace for about 20 aerial porters from Dover Air Force Base, Del., has launched operations which have seen some of the heaviest fighting of the Afghan campaign. One of these, Operation Anaconda, recently saw U.S. troops engaging al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the surrounding Shah-I-Kot mountains.
The team from the 436th Aerial Port Squadron was actually enroute to their deployed location when the operation took place.
"We saw some stuff about Operation Anaconda on CNN while we were on our way," said Staff Sgt. Chris Quezada, an air terminal operations center information controller with the 436th Aerial Port Squadron. "I didn't know those troops were from here until after we arrived."
Upon receiving the news of their deployment, airmen had the difficult task of relaying that information to their loved ones.
"My family was very, very worried," said Quezada. "It took me half an hour to calm down my mom after telling her on the phone."
Although the first reaction from families may be worry, most soon realize that all servicemembers signed up to do a job, and thus give them their full support.
While working on the flightline here, aerial porters get a magnificent view of the snowcapped Hindu Khush mountains; a sharp contrast to the wreckage and bombed-out structures which line the streets within the base's perimeter.
Originally established in November, the base is a forward operating location that commands and controls, as well as provides logistical support to all coalition forces in Afghanistan. The Air Force is working with Spanish forces to get supplies and troops in and out of the base, which is occupied by the Army and coalition forces from other countries.
"There's only one road to Uzbecastan, so the only way to get things here is by air," said Army Maj. Brian Hilferty, public affairs office.
Supplies and troops arriving here are off-loaded by Dover's air transportation professionals, who work out of two general-purpose tents they share with the Army. The aerial porters are working in an entirely different world than at Dover. The absence of K-loaders presents one of the biggest challenges for porters, who only have old forklifts to move pallets.
"Lots of equipment doesn't work well, and getting things fixed is hard," said Jones. "We have to bare-tyne pallets off planes, which means throwing a pallet off the plane, and hopefully catching it with a forklift," said Jones. "It's not an exact science. You're just dealing with gravity and about six thousand pounds."
The porters work two 12-hour shifts, seven days a week. The night shifters, illuminated only by glow sticks and the occasional tracer fire in the surrounding hills, must work in complete darkness, using only glow sticks and night vision goggles to see while they load and off-load aircraft with engines running.
"The goggles are like first generation night vision goggles, so they don't really work well," said Senior Airman Matt Rooney.
The airmen are also advised not to step off the flightline and other hardened roads around base, because mines and unexploded ordnance are still being removed.
Despite the tough conditions, it's experiences like this that force a unit to grow close. And, as the port crew has only been together about 20 days so far, the team probably knows more about each other than they ever cared to know.
"We've got someone who writes on the walls in the (outhouse.) He's my new idle," joked Rooney to a group of porters between airplane offloads. "These are the stories we'll be telling when we talk about the war. The legend of the (outhouse) poet."
When airmen aren't working there is little to do other than watch A-10s and Army Black Hawks take off. High spirits are maintained with coffee from the highly-coveted coffee pot Tech. Sgt. John O. Crowley brought from home. The free phone calls home, e-mail access, and care packages from family members help too.
"I call my wife every other day when I get off work," said Senior Airman Joshua Jones. "It keeps her sane."
With no temperature-controlled tents in sight, not even for the Air Force, the living conditions are the most bare some airmen have ever seen. If willing to walk to the other side of base, about half a mile, troops do get to shower about every other day.
For 19-year-old Airman 1st Class Autumn Klimek, who has only been in the Air Force eight months, this is her first deployment. Klimek was issued her upgrade training Career Development Course books the same day she was told she was deploying.
"To continue to progress, I'm expected to have all three volumes of my CDCs done in three months, and I'm scheduled to be here three months," said Klimek, who finds time to work in the books after work and between off-loads.
The job is no vacation, and many troops openly voice how much they miss home, but they all seem to know they are here for a good reason. The deployed noncommissioned officers are keeping the troops focused and pass on their experiences to younger troops, while still making sure operations run as smoothly as possible.
"Our job is to keep the troops safe," said Crowley, deployed first sergeant. "Twenty-two of us came, and 22 of us are going back."
(FROM AIR MOBILITY COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS)
