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Milestones Becoming S.O.P for Afghan Air Force

  • Published
  • By MC2 David Quillen
  • 438th AEW PA
KABUL, Afghanistan --  On Dec. 3, 2009 the C-27 Spartan fixed wing aircraft flew its first mission over the skies of Afghanistan. The mission was simple and straightforward, a small 15 minute trip from Kabul to Bagram for maintenance. Now only nine months later the C-27 program has reached two new milestones by flying its 1,000 hour as well as qualifying its first fully functional afghan flight crew on.

"The 1,000 hour mark is somewhat anecdotal but it coincided with us having the first Afghan crew ready for their final qualification before being capable to fly without U.S. Advisors. So we put the two events together so they would have a stronger impact in marking the achievements," explained Lt. Col. James Piel, Commanding Officer, 538th Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron, lead C-27 advisor for NATO's Combined Air Power Transition Force.

Unlike the C-27's first mission, the mission marking the 1,000 hour was both more complicated and important. The mission was to deliver from Kabul, critical Afghan Air Force cargo in support of the MI-17 mission in Kandahar with the return leg being to conduct nine wounded Afghan soldiers and the remains of one Afghan soldier who was killed in combat back to Kabul. Thus, both legs of the journey had significant impact on the overall mission in Afghanistan.

At the conclusion of the mission Brig Gen. Michal Boera, Commanding General, 438th Air Expeditionary Wing, Combined Air Power Transition Force took a few moments to congratulate the Afghan crew and present them with a certificate of achievement.

Boera also took the opportunity to call forward and present medals to the U.S. advisors and Afghan crew that participated in the first international mission to Pakistan last May. That mission was the transportation of the Afghan Speaker of the Wolesi Jirqa, Mohammad Younous Qanooni and other dignitaries to Pakistan for partnership talks.

As Boera awarded the U.S. advisors the Army Achievement medal and the Afghan crew the U.S. Air Force Achievement medal for recognition of their excellent performance, he stated "It is an exciting time for the Afghan Air Force...it is good to do missions shonna by shonna [shoulder to shoulder] but it will be even better when you are able to complete the mission sets on your own."

In the coming months three to four more Afghan crew members will become fully qualified to fly without U.S. advisors, continuing the remarkable development of the afghan Air Force and Piel will have certificates waiting for those Afghan Airmen as well.

"They have been working so hard and it is very important when you reach a new milestone to document the achievement and give the Afghans something to stand on. Every time you can give the Afghans a piece of that milestone you can see it on their face as it energizes them to work harder and strive to become a more professional force; every benchmark ads to their capabilities and their confidence."