An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Joint communication vital to Bagram RIP/TOA

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Vernon Cunningham
  • 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  The Relief in Place/Transfer of Authority for the 1st Infantry Division is over. The joint effort to move the personnel and equipment into place for their new mission was a success. Members of Bagram's 455th Expeditionary Aerial Port Squadron moved eight brigades, to include the Army's 1st brigade 82nd Airborne Division, 4th Brigade 4th Infantry Division, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Brigade 25th Infantry Division and Task Force White Eagle Polish Brigade. EAPS personnel worked hand-in-hand with its Army counterparts to account for the necessary assets and get them into position for the upcoming rotation.

The 1st ID, also known as the "Big Red One," took over the responsibility of working with the Afghan government and Afghan National Security Forces to bring security, development and governance to the region.

"EAPS worked jointly with each unit to ensure we met their required delivery date and with our airlift partners to ensure we maximize every aircraft," said Senior Master Sgt. Wayne Donnelly, 455th EAPS Operations Superintendent. "EAPS used air, commercial tender and ground transportation to accomplish this."

During the RIP/TOA, EAPS 'Port Dawgs' processed more than 17,000 passengers and 4,000 tons of cargo. At the same time, they were processing other RIP/TOAs and the daily airlift retrograde, sustainment cargo and munitions movements.

Master Sgt. William Hamm, 455th EAPS Special Handling Superintendent, said 455th EAPS worked closely with Army Sgt. Ralph Boyd, 82nd AD Brigade Transportation NCO, daily to maintain positive control and ensure 100 percent accountability of all assets.

"It was pretty much daily contact with him during the RIP," said Hamm. "That way when cargo came in it's staged out in the cargo yard. Sgt. Boyd helped keep it organized and determined what was going out on truck or by air."

"The coordination was critical and very effective," said Boyd. "We had multiple movements of numerous units of all types of equipment."

Boyd said the cargo was coming in faster than it could be shipped out. Therefore, it took a lot of coordination with the Joint Movement Control Battalion to load up trucks with cargo and track incoming and outgoing equipment.

When assets didn't terminate at Bagram, the two forces worked together to re-manifest and send the packages downrange.

The Air Force loaded and unloaded the cargo and handled a lot of the paperwork process. The Transportation NCO coordinated the truck movements and worked out the logistics of the trucks. Both parties were critical in the accurate tracking of all processed equipment.

"The collective effort by all involved was amazing," said Boyd. "It really was a joint effort with 100 percent mission complete results."

Donnelly said the focus was on ensuring the timely and accurate delivery of the RIP/TOA assets while sustaining the war fighters still in place. EAPS maintained operations from routine shipment s of vehicles and generators to emergency airdrop bundles of critical food and ammo to troops in austere combat outpost. The "Port Dawgs" feed the fight.

"The port sustainment efforts consisted of 600 tons of cargo each day," said Donnelly.

Considering 455th EAPS was maintaining its other missions (sustainment, retrograde operations) in addition to RIP/TOA, communication proved to be integral in hitting the timely goals set by the incoming mission. The aerial port closely coordinated with the Air Mobility Division, the Tanker Airlift Control Center at Scott Air Force Base and CJTF1-J4 staff to closely synchronize the movement of personnel and equipment throughout Regional Command East.

"With the amount of stuff that was coming through, Boyd needed to be here every day," said Hamm. "The 4th ID and 4th BCT were down here every day coordinating, communicating about what was surface delivery, what was going to go air, what has come so far, what was processed...everything was checked and double checked for accuracy. A lot of the Air Force was involved in moving in the new Army mission: ATOC for visibility, load planning, passenger and ramp services...we all had to talk to get the job done."