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The Airmen behind the mobility ‘curtain’

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Eric Burks
  • U.S. Air Forces Central Command Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  At first glance, it might appear that 1st Lt. Amanda Elliott's job is a little, well ... boring.

As aircrews made headlines last month during operations to redeploy thousands of U.S. servicemembers from Afghanistan, Elliott spent long hours at her computer screen in a windowless workspace, tucked away inside a maze of similar windowless offices.

Far from the unseen flightline, the logistics readiness officer crunched numbers, analyzed spreadsheets, and mastered the unheralded art of future requirements planning.

But without the efforts of Elliott and her coworkers at U.S. Air Forces Central's Air Mobility Division, efficient troop movement would not be possible.

"In a way, we're the 'man behind the curtain'," she said with a smile, referring to the Great Wizard of Oz.

But in contrast to the fictitious wizard, AMD Airmen don't need smoke and mirrors to accomplish great feats or make a big impression. While aircrews and aircraft do the "heavy lifting" of transporting passengers from one point to another, AMD plans and coordinates each movement within the theater, ensuring the success of all mobility operations.

"Communication is the most important aspect," said Capt. Allen Batiste, AMD Airlift Control Team. "Our role is to get the right amount of planes to the right place at the right time."

Those efforts begin when AMD processes validated airlift requests from the Central Command Deployment and Distribution Operations Center based on unit line numbers, Batiste said.

"We get the ULNs for redeploying troops, and match those to aircraft available in the theater," he said. "In Afghanistan, C-130s usually transport passengers from Forward Operating Bases to Bagram and Kandahar Airfields, and C-17s take them on to inter-theater hubs."

To complete the redeployment of the last of the "surge" forces by the end of September, additional C-130 aircraft were needed in Afghanistan to handle the increase in passenger flow, said Capt. John Spillane, who works on AMD's planning team for C-130s with Maj. Stephen Duran.

Two C-130 aircraft, along with three aircrews, were relocated from a base in Southwest Asia and completed 117 sorties to the FOBs, Spillane said.

In addition to the having the right number of aircraft available, Elliott said other challenges ranged from weather changes to attacks on bases in Afghanistan.

"It's a constantly changing, fluctuating environment," she said, "so communication is critical. From the 'boots on ground' to the top of the chain - and everyone in between - passing along timely and accurate information is the key."

Ultimately, mobility missions moved at least 60,000 intra-theater passengers during the month of September, said Maj. Bary Flack, AMD Airlift Control Team deputy for logistics.

"Many of those were redeploying troops from the surge recovery," he said. "The last 23,000 out brought the 'boots-on-ground' in Afghanistan to 68,000 ... 12 days ahead of schedule."

While the surge redeployment effort is now complete, "normal operations" at AMD continue. In addition to moving intra-theater passengers in standard rotational movements, AMD teams also coordinate aeromedical evacuation missions, refueling operations, cargo transportation, and airdrops.

So, unlike the Wizard of Oz, the men and women "behind the curtain" at AMD won't be closing up shop and going back to Kansas anytime soon.

"Mobility never rests," Flack said. "If you can't get the right people and equipment to the right place at the right time, the mission will fail. Our job is to make sure that doesn't happen."