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Tick, tock: ATOC works around the clock

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Mitch Gettle
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan --  The primary mission of the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing is to provide air mobility support to U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan fighting the war on terrorism.

About a third of that mission funnels through the base's air terminal operations center, a total force operation manned by active-duty Airmen and Citizen Airmen from around the Air Force.

The 376th AEW standard for moving cargo and troops is less than 72 hours, said Col. Joel "Scott" Reese, 376th AEW commander.

"To succeed in meeting this mission standard, it takes a combined effort of all people and organizations assigned to the wing," he said.

A lot of that responsibility falls on members of the 376th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron's ATOC. The center is the focal point for receiving and shipping cargo through Manas Air Base, said Senior Master Sgt. Gerald Fox. Sergeant Fox is the ATOC superintendent and a reservist deployed from Air Force Reserve Command's 34th Aerial Port Squadron, Gen. Mitchell International Airport Air Reserve Station in Milwaukee.

"Our goal is to get cargo and passengers out as soon as we can," said 1st. Lt. Ryan Mansfield, ATOC flight chief, deployed from the active force's 92nd LRS, Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash. "We rely on the teamwork of all the organizations on the flightline to assist our operations."

One day during the first week of October, more than 200,000 pounds of cargo on 50 pallets arrived on two 747 aircraft within an eight-hour period starting at 2 a.m.

"We call this 'High Velocity Cargo,'" Sergeant Fox said. "The process starts with the information control center.

"Information control has the eyes on the incoming missions and knows what is loaded and when they are due in," Sergeant Fox said. "This ensures we have the available resources standing by to move quickly when the aircraft arrives."

The ATOC Airmen use a 60K Tunner vehicle to off-load and then transport the cargo to the ATOC area.

"We have a grid yard outside," said Master Sgt. Owen Meier, NCO in charge of terminal services and a reservist from the 911th Airlift Wing, Pittsburgh IAP ARS, Pa. "When we get cargo coming in, it is our job to verify the weights and put the cargo in a specific grid spot in the yard and then give our information to the load planners."

Load planners prioritize what is shipped first depending on mission need and available aircraft. Once the load planner has all the information, he can assign cargo to aircraft missions. There are two types of airlift for cargo - opportune airlift and frag airlift, Sergeant Fox said.

"Opportune airlift is cargo that moves on available space in an aircraft that already has an assigned mission," Sergeant Fox said. "Frag airlift means the cargo is a "must go" on a certain aircraft mission."

There is still more that a load planner must do to ensure proper shipment of cargo or personnel.

"We have allowable cabin limits for each aircraft that carries cargo," said Master Sgt. Tim Thompson, a reservist deployed from the 27th APS, Minneapolis-St. Paul IAP ARS, Minn. "We then use this limit to determine optimum loads to be transported. The load includes cargo, bags and personnel weights."

Some of the cargo arriving at Manas is meant to stay here.

"Inbound terminating cargo usually goes through the traffic management office, but some quick release items, like liquid oxygen and mission impaired capability awaiting parts, we release right to the user," Sergeant Meier said.

The process ends when the cargo is loaded on an aircraft or sent to its end user here. But for the ATOC personnel, theirs is a mission that never ends.

"The two 747s we handled that day worked out the way the mechanisms in place are suppose to. The timing of the inbound wide body airlift was in line for the follow on downrange airlift," explained Master Sgt. Zane Ranum, NCO in charge of information control who is deployed from the 27th APS.

"We did a little realigning and coordinating of aircraft to maximize all available airframes per their destination," he said. "This does not occur that often, but in this case, we moved all that cargo out of Manas to include cargo that was already here, to the war-fighter destinations in under eight hours."

Other specific functions in the ATOC occur simultaneously.

"We can be loading cargo for Afghanistan on one ramp and certifying cargo weight in the yard, off-loading a 747 on a different ramp, while prepping for another inbound or outbound in a few hours," Sergeant Fox said. "It matters not what time of the day it is, this is what we do."

Colonel Reese said "The cargo may be just a pallet on a truck to an outsider, but to us, it's the 'beans or bullets' our troops need in fighting or building on the ground in Afghanistan. Our mission is to supply their mission, and our ATOC crew is making a ton of difference in the Global War in Terrorism." (AFRC News Service)