JETs help move Afghanistan mission

Published Jan. 10, 2011
By Tech. Sgt. Jerome C. Baysmore
376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan -- Most Airmen know that Air Force jets move cargo, personnel and equipment in and out of theater. But for some Airmen, this type of jet doesn't exactly rack up flight time.

This JET is really a joint expeditionary tasking in which several Transit Center at Manas Airmen are assigned to the Army to support the onward movement of troops mission.

Staff Sgt. Christina Linz, Joint Movement Control Center member, is part of the seven person reception-replacement-return to duty-rest and recuperation-redeployment or R5 team at the Transit Center at Manas. She's also one of several Airmen here serving in a JET tasking.

"Once I got this JET tasking, I was thinking the worst," said Staff Sgt. Christina Linz, who is a deployed personnelist from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. "I wasn't expecting working with the different services to be as nice as it's been."

The JMCC at the transit center brings members from all the service components: Air Force logistics planners, Marine liaison officers, Army liaison officers and the R5 Theater Gateway Team.

She added the R5 team provides theater wide support, personnel accountability and database inputs as Soldiers arrive, depart or transit the theater. Since September 2010, the team has helped move more than 74,000 personnel.

"I've learned so much working with the Air Force, Army, Marines and the Navy. I've learned their lingo, core values and their different cultures," Sergeant Linz said. "It's very rewarding, and I'm pleased that I've learned a lot."

Capt. Michelle Mobley, R5 officer in charge and deployed here from Scott AFB, Ill., agrees. She said the experience of working closely with our sister service components in a joint environment has provided the R5 team an opportunity to view how they work together to accomplish the joint mission.

"Being assigned to the Army as a JET provides a unique opportunity by allowing traditional Airmen to experience the Army customs and culture while accomplishing the Army mission," she said. "At first, there was a learning curve trying to learn Army terminology, organizational structure and Army processes. However, it came naturally to our team after a few weeks."

Captain Mobley said the R5 team has found the relationships and friendships they've created with their Army counterparts was extremely helpful in their indoctrination into the Army culture and training in the R5 mission.

The staff expressed the joint team enjoys working together to provide integrated; round-the-clock mission coverage.

"We've definitely made lifelong friends with our Army co-workers and look forward to working with them again in a Joint environment," she said. "Personnelists don't get this opportunity. It puts things back in perspective because it's rewarding, and I appreciate it. This is my third deployment and this has been my best one so far.

"The R5 team are Air Force Personnelists by trade; however, we've realized that an R5 team member is actually a hybrid personnelist, log planner and liaison officer," she concluded. "This type of experience is something an Airman wouldn't necessarily receive in a traditional functional deployment tasking."