817th EAS puts 'go' in cargo

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jarvie Z. Wallace
  • 39th Air Base Wing
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  The 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron is at the forefront of efforts delivering essential, sometimes lifesaving, cargo to vital locations across Southwest and Central Asia and parts of Northern Africa.

The 817th EAS is a tenant unit to the 39th Air Base Wing with approximately 100 Airmen who operate out of Incirlik, as well as the Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan. The unit here has flown more than 430 missions and moved approximately 6,100 tons of cargo and 570 passengers to and from Incirlik since January.

Three sections make up the squadron: the ground support staff, operations and the commander's support staff.

Before any plane takes off, the ground support staff plans the mission, ensure records are properly documented and provide several other support functions. Intelligence, aircrew flight equipment, squadron aviation resource management, crew communications and tactics are all sections of the 817th EAS ground support staff.

"I make sure the operators are current and qualified in order to fly," said Staff Sgt. Tiffaney Smith, 817th EAS aviation resource management technician. "Anybody who flies an aircraft, I publish the flight authorization for the flight order. No aircraft can leave the ground without a flight authorization being published."

The operations component includes the aircrew, which encompasses pilots, navigators and loadmasters who are responsible for the loading and stowage of cargo aboard the aircraft. They make it possible for supplies to be safely delivered to their destination.

"We have to get the supplies to people who need them and get it there as soon as possible. Just to be able to get the sick and injured personnel to a location where they're going to get help stands out," Tech. Sgt. Donald Grable, 817th EAS loadmaster and acting superintendent, said about his experiences with the squadron.

Although the 817th EAS is an expeditionary squadron, Airmen must stay current on training and are eligible for awards both at Incirlik and their home base. The commander's on-site support staff ensures personnel records are maintained throughout their tour here and consists of an acting first sergeant, an executive officer, and an awards and decorations officer, all of whom are aircrew members.

The acting first sergeant handles any minor personnel issues that may arise. The executive officer handles administrative tasks such as enlisted and officer performance reports; and the awards and decorations officer handles medals, and monthly and quarterly awards.

"It is important to have the Airmen in these roles, so that the people in the unit are appropriately taken care of," said Maj. Martin Shadle, 817th EAS operations officer. "Just because we are deployed, we cannot forget to take care of getting our Airmen the recognition they deserve. Awards and decorations, EPRs, and OPRs are very important to not only getting our Airmen recognized, but promoted as well."

The squadron consists of deployed Airmen who serve two-month tours and return to their stateside base. Sometimes this time constraint poses a challenge to Airmen who would like to regularly partake in community activities.

"We are here on a base that is robust and has all those professional organizations that you can join," said Shadle. However, due to the nature of this short tour, as soon as Airmen begin to flourish in the community, the tour is finished and it's time to leave.

On numerous occasions, Airmen work 24-hour shifts to maintain 100 percent mission effectiveness during their two months at Incirlik.

"I am extremely proud of all of the men and women that I work with and humbled to be a part of such a hard-working organization,'' said Shadle.

The 817th EAS is part of the 62nd Airlift Wing, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., which includes four active-duty and three reserve squadrons. The squadron's vision is to provide safe, reliable, effective and adaptive expeditionary operations.