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Rapidly resupplying the AOR: A 'riggerous' job

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Kelly White
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  "It's an early wake-up, formation, then we come here and work really hard," said Army Spc. Claudio Ortiz, 824th Quartermaster Company, Detachment 9 rigger.

Specialist Ortiz is one of about 20 Army Reservists deployed from Ft. Bragg, N.C., who arrived at the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing at the end of March. In their first month on the job, the unit built more than 1.6 million pounds of life-sustaining resupply loads air dropped to U.S. and Coalition troops in theater.

Their record of poundage consisted of 1,000 cargo delivery system bundles containing primarily food, water and fuel -- boiling down to each rigger on the team toting, assembling and securing well over a literal "ton of stuff" a day.

"It was an immediate trial by fire," said Chief Warrant Officer 2 James Tiddy, 824 QM Det. 9 commander. "To show up in country, and in the first month, have the most poundage ever to come out of a rigger shop in Southwest Asia, shows the caliber of Soldiers we have here now, and I am sure they will continue to show that level of work and motivation for the entire tour."

The purpose of their mission is sustainment of forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Horn of Africa - any place where troops on the ground need support because the terrain surrounding them is too rugged or dangerous for resupply via convoy.

"We build bundles, from the ground up, in an assembly line," said Sgt. Anthony Hopkins 824 QM Det. 9 rigger. "We add a parachute to each bundle, and at the end of the line, an air-load inspector goes through the whole load, from bottom to top, to make sure it's air-worthy."

On average, 70,000 pounds of equipment get dropped at a time.

"We don't drop just to drop," explained Warrant Officer Tiddy. "We drop so the Soldiers can have the commodities on the ground. There's no use dropping it if the load isn't going to arrive at its destination intact."

Making sure their effort isn't in vain means, in addition to a long day of vigorous activity, the team must also adhere to some rigorous building standards - something these riggers have already earned a reputation for doing exceptionally well, following their motto, "I will be sure, Always!"

"We rely on their expertise to make uploading cargo onto aircraft go smoothly," said Air Force Staff Sgt. Jeff Patterson, 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron C-17 Globemaster III loadmaster.

"We're one team, working together on the mission," he added, "and really appreciate them because we know, by the quality of our loads, that they always do their best."

The riggers' ability to perpetually produce high-quality CDS bundles is something both Sergeant Hopkins and Specialist Ortiz attribute to being part of a cohesive team, the effectiveness of their leadership and - especially when the job seems most grueling - taking a moment to appreciate the good things they have to look forward to, while deployed here.

"We're a pretty tight-knit team," said the sergeant. "We know we're going to spend the majority of our time in this shop, so we always stay together as a group...helping each other so no one gets behind.

"We do a lot of things to have fun here in the shop and keep each others' spirits high," he added. "Riggers have a unique tradition of celebrating or recognizing our fellow Soldiers for accomplishments like birthdays and promotions, that most riggers around the world observe, appreciate and fear, according to what side of the celebration they're on."

The familiarity of being deployed as a unit also benefits the team.

"People asked me, before deploying, 'are you scared?'" said Specialist Ortiz. "I knew the people I was coming here with, and I was really confident - it didn't matter if we were sent here, or to Afghanistan or Iraq - the people I'm with and the leadership we have are outstanding.

"And yes, it's hard to be here really late every night, seven days a week," he added. "We don't have many days off because there's a huge demand, but it's nice to know what we do directly affects what's going on downrange. A lot of times, people downrange don't have 90 percent of the things we have here - things we don't even think about - bathrooms, showers and hot meals all the time. Knowing we provide sustainment to those people keeps us motivated."