An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Airlift or airdrop - C-130s get the job done

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Joe Maker
  • 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan --  There is no such thing as a typical day for a member of the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan.

Day and night, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, it's airland and airdrop. Air National Guardsmen from Rhode Island, California, and Maryland are here making it happen in the C-130J Hercules. As part of the 455th Expeditionary Operations Group, their mission is timely and accurate support to U.S. and coalition forces, protecting innocent civilians, and killing our enemies; everything else is secondary.

At 4:15 a.m., Lt. Col. Daniel Walter is alerted for the start of his three-sortie mission. Walter and his crew prepare for the mission with a tactics and intelligence briefing. They study the terrain and weather for the entire mission. Then, they focus all attention on the first leg -- airdrop. Leg one is a night airdrop to U.S. Special Forces with 17,000 pounds of sustainment supplies. The aircraft approaches the drop zone completely blacked-out. Walter precisely positions the aircraft at the release point. "Five seconds...green light," comes the announcement over the intercom and the load exits into the darkness. The aircraft climbs rapidly from drop altitude for the route to Kandahar.

"It's never an easy route in," said Walter. "There's always the terrain and weather to contend with, but we find a way to get it done."

The loadmasters prepare the cargo area for the next stop. The plan is to pick up a 37,000 pound piece of tactical equipment destined for a dirt landing zone. The crew checks the aircraft performance data. The tactical equipment just barely fits in the C-130 - only inches to spare. Still on night vision goggles, it takes focused concentration to land on the short, dirt runway used at the forward operating base. Engines stay running at the FOB as the equipment is offloaded and 43 passengers embark for Kabul.

The mission ends almost exactly 12 hours after it began from Bagram, but the Hercules is up to the task.

"The updated C-130J with newer and more powerful engines allows us to operate at maximum weights from austere airfields throughout Afghanistan, even in the hot summer," said Walter.

The C-130 has always been a workhorse of theater airlift. In just the last month, the 774th EAS has airdropped more than 450 tons, moved nearly 8,000 passengers, and flown more than 720 sorties - the busiest airdrop month in Afghanistan in at least the last three years.

"If there's a way, it gets done ... and then some," said Lt. Col. David Swanson, 774th EAS commander. "If we can take more, we take it; and if you need us to fly more, we fly."

Swanson said credit goes to the lean-forward attitude the squadron and maintenance team shows in getting the mission done everyday.