Aerial port Reservists leave brand in Hawaii

Published May 6, 2013
By Staff Sgt. Rachael Garneau
446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

MCCHORD FIELD, Wash. -- About 30 Citizen Airmen from the 86th Aerial Port Squadron here returned from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, May 3, after conducting their annual training requirements.

During their two-week temporary duty, the McChord Reservists provided aerial port assistance for the 735th Air Mobility Squadron, out of JBPHH.

The team from Washington integrated with the 735th AMS aerial port Airmen, as well as their civilian counterparts, at the joint base. Hawaii has been the 86th APS "hub" for their annual tour every couple of years for at least the last decade.

"It's a great location, and the 735th is a generous host," said Capt. Robert Frantzen, 86th APS acting operations officer. "We're used to going there and they're used to having us, so it makes for a very comfortable training environment. When you only have two weeks and it takes a long time to get set up at the location, it can take away from the training. That's why the AMS there is so amazing- they have the process fine-tuned and ready to go, so we hit the ground running with our training."

In fact, JBPHH has an active-duty member whose main job is to liaise between the Reservists and the base. They receive Reserve and Guard units for annual training 36 weeks of the year. Everything is set up for the incoming Citizen Airmen before they arrive on the island- lodging, transportation, and, most importantly, the training.

"Before we even leave Washington, we determine what areas the Airmen need to be focused on in training," said Master Sgt. John Stimer, 86th APS acting training superintendent. "We request what they need from the training location. Whether it's a task they've never done or something they have to be refreshed on, the plan is to set the Airmen up for success before they depart."

Senior Airman Wilfredo Batisto has been with the 86th since 2009 as an air transportation journeyman. However, this is his first annual tour trip to Hawaii. When he's here, he's typically worked on a ramp services team. At JBPHH, Batisto refined his skills in both the cargo area and the Air Transportation Operations Center.

"It was difficult at first because it's a little frustrating when you don't know where things go," said Batisto. "You learn the basics at tech school, but if you don't use those skills very often, it's easy to forget. It was a very good experience being able to go out there and practice on actual cargo that's going out."

Fortunately, it wasn't just the individual tasks that made this a unique training trip for the Reservists.

"We're primarily a C-17 Globemaster III base at JBLM, so we don't get a lot of commercial aircraft," said Stimer. "Hawaii processes just as many commercial aircraft as they do military, so our unit was able to get unique training in that area, which is huge."

The 86th APS accomplished all of their training goals, signing off nearly 600 tasks for their Airmen.

"We do a tour brief with the local command staff and an end-of-tour brief with their commander," said Frantzen. "We show what we accomplished while we were there and get feedback from them. The end result was a pretty good tour. We actually received three outstanding performer awards from the 735th AMS."

In the past, the 86th APS have travelled to various Air Mobility Command bases around the globe for their annual training, including Naval Station Norfolk, Va., Travis Air Force Base, Calif., Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea, Yokota Air Base, Japan, and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.