Herculean efforts move cargo, troops throughout Afghanistan

A group of U.S. Army Soldiers line up to board a C-130H Hercules at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, Nov. 30. The C-130 is used to transport troops through the mountainous terrain and is able to land on the dirt air strips found at many of the bases throughout Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Rachel Martinez) (Released)

Herculean efforts move cargo, troops throughout Afghanistan

Staff Sgt. Shawn Engelsted, a loadmaster with the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, directs a k-loader driver while loading cargo onto a C-130H Hercules at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, Nov. 30. The cargo department of a C-130, originally designed to match the specifications of a railroad boxcar, can hold up to six cargo pallets. Sergeant Engelsted is deployed from the Minnesota Air National Guard. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Rachel Martinez) (Released)

Herculean efforts move cargo, troops throughout Afghanistan

Chief Master Sgt. Byron Todd, a loadmaster with the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, grabs cargo from a U.S. Army Soldier to be tied down in the back of a C-130H Hercules at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, Nov. 30. The C-130 is the primary aircraft used to move cargo and passengers around Afghanistan. Chief Todd is deployed from the Minnesota Air National Guard. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Rachel Martinez) (Released)

Herculean efforts move cargo, troops throughout Afghanistan

Tech. Sgt. Joel Sainsbury (right), a C-130 Hercules flight engineer, and 1st Lt. Jason Christensen, a C-130 pilot, review data during a flight over Afghanistan Dec. 1. The C-130 has been performing tactical airlift for nearly five decades, and is a key element to moving cargo and troops throughout Afghanistan. Sergeant Sainsbury and Lieutenant Christensen are assigned to the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron and deployed from the Minnesota Air National Guard. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Rachel Martinez) (Released)

Herculean efforts move cargo, troops throughout Afghanistan

Published Dec. 12, 2008
By Staff Sgt. Rachel Martinez
455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan -- Nearly five decades since it first became part of the Air Force inventory, the C-130 Hercules continues to play an integral role transporting troops and cargo. The C-130Hs assigned to the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing at Bagram Air Field prove be the ideal aircraft for overcoming high altitudes, short runways and austere airfields in Afghanistan.

"We're versatile and our environment is very dynamic," said Staff Sgt. Jim Meyer, a flight engineer deployed from the Illinois Air National Guard. "We can get in and out of places no one else can. With the assault landings, low-level flying and dirt airstrips, the flying here is made for a C-130."

In addition to hauling cargo and passengers to forward operating locations throughout Afghanistan, the aircrews are often tasked to fly airdrops, delivering much needed supplies to remotely located posts, or to fly aeromedical evacuations, transporting injured coalition members from field hospitals to the joint theater hospital at Bagram. Each of these missions requires a different aircraft configuration. The C-130 can be configured to hold a maximum of 6 pallets of cargo, 74 litters, 16 container delivery system bundles, 92 combat troops or 64 paratroopers. A typical configuration for this location however allows for 56 troops and 2 pallets.

In November, the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron here airlifted more than 1,800 passengers, 665 tons of cargo and air dropped more than 60 tons of cargo. These numbers can change drastically month to month depending on what is going on in Afghanistan and what they are tasked to support.

"Compared to the C-17, we don't haul that much," said Sergeant Meyer, who is on his fifth deployment. "Where we move stuff in and out of is the impressive thing."

The number of C-130 sorties compared to other airframes is also impressive. The squadron averages more than 30 combat sorties a day and ensures there is an aircraft in the air at all times, ready to support urgent taskings. Each mission can consist of three or four sorties and it's not uncommon for the aircrew's taskings to change mid-mission. A far-stretch from home-station flying, the aircrews have learned to adapt to the often hectic flying schedule.

"It can be chaos, but you get used to the chaos and control what you can control," said Lt. Col. T.J. Roberts.

Master Sgt. David Brown is a C-130 loadmaster deployed from the North Carolina Air National Guard. On his fourth deployment, he agreed the work here can be the hardest aircrews will experience.

"You just try to do your job the best you can," he said. "Some days it's easier than others. But for a part-timer, being deployed keeps your attitude where it needs to be."

For many in the C-130 community, there is no place better suited for flying than Afghanistan.

"It's everything the C-130 was designed to do - from airdrop to resupplying troops on dirt landing zones to flying through mountainous terrain," said Capt. Blake Greenfield, a pilot deployed from Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. "For the C-130 community, this is what you want to do. It's both challenging and rewarding, but it's what we signed up for - to do these missions."