MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- The world’s first aircraft to be named a “jumbo jet” made its way to MacDill Air Force Base to deliver cargo owned by the Joint Communications Support Element, July 31, 2019.
Members of the 6th Logistics Readiness Squadron mobilized and prepared themselves to unload a Boeing 747, an aircraft that dwarfs the KC-135 Stratotanker.
“The purpose of the movement was to return JCSE’s cargo from a multi-year deployment in a forward deployed location,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Tyner Apt-Hill, the 6th LRS operations officer. “One to two Airmen from each section within our squadron had some part in one of the largest single cargo movement in years.”
The 6th LRS team made up of fuels management, ground transportation, small air terminal, and vehicle maintenance Airmen worked tirelessly to move 32 increments of cargo, totaling more than 140,000 pounds of equipment.
According to U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Daniel Zamora, Air Operations NCO-in-charge, assigned to the Joint Communications Support Element, the use of the larger Boeing 747 aircraft allowed consolidation of what would have taken three C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.
The average job involves approximately five increments weighing 3.5 tons. So far in 2019, the team has moved 167 increments from 24 aircraft.
An increment is essentially a pallet of cargo assembled for a particular mission. In this case, the cargo contained one of JCSE’s deployable joint command and control systems (DJC2), which allows commanders to set up a self-contained, self-powered, computer network-enabled headquarters anywhere in the world.
"The DJC2 is maintained by our team in the event of an immediate response force callout," said Master Sgt. Jose DeLeon, the IRF NCO in charge at JCSE. "By redeploying this equipment back to MacDill, we were able to centralize all IRF assets to reduce the overall response time in the case that such a callout occurs."
DeLeon explained that DJC2s can be deployed and set up within 72 hours of notification to provide support in crisis and contingency operations.
“The difference between this movement and our normal operations is huge,” added Apt-Hill. “Although we don’t see this type of aircraft on a day-to-day basis, our team was made up of Airmen who have worked movements of this caliber. Needless to say it was a unique training opportunity for our newer Airmen.”
This particular movement of equipment for JCSE was so large that it contributed to 22 percent of the total amount moved by LRS so far this year.
”…This is what the 6th LRS is all about,” said Apt-Hill“…Our squadron is always ready to tackle missions for our wing, installation partners and joint service teammates.”