MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – As the initial shock from Hurricanes Irma and Maria begins to settle, the work of the 6th Logistics Readiness Squadron at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, escalates.
“I am incredibly honored to command an organization that is not only dynamic and diverse in the way that it is built, but is constantly ready and willing to execute any mission, anytime,” smiled Lt. Col. Lawrence Smith, commander of the 6th LRS. “In short, our primary mission is to deliver anything, anytime, anywhere.”
The 6th LRS currently houses Airmen among nine various Air Force Specialty Codes making the team at MacDill a unique organization.
“Our squadron is a hybrid of what used to be the transportation squadron and the supply squadron. Add in the logistics plans and aerial port functions and you have the current LRS structure at MacDill AFB,” said Smith. “With an organization this diverse, one of the challenges we face is integrating all of the different AFSCs.
However, we embrace the challenge and capitalize on that diversity as it enables our dynamic, hard charging ethos. Like many organizations on base, our Airmen knock it out of the park every single day.”
It is no surprise that personnel throughout the 6th LRS have experienced quite an increase in their workload to ensure the wing as a whole, remains mission ready, especially during the hurricane relief efforts.
“I would say that between fuels, vehicle operations, and the aerial port, the Airmen have really increased their output and man hours,” said Thomas Sanders, the installation deployment officer. “Aerial port personnel have been working 12-14 hour shifts in order to provide the capability to ensure they are ready and available to download and upload aircraft.”
On top of their day-to-day responsibilities, personnel in the 6th LRS are also currently involved in resupply missions for the hurricane relief efforts, including aeromedical evacuations, providing fuel to aircraft, and transferring crews to lodging and off-base locations. They have also palletized equipment for the 45th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, and an incredible amount of food and water supporting the relief efforts.
“There are a lot of people in Puerto Rico without food and water and we are doing what we can to help provide relief to folks,” added Sanders. “We have personnel coming outside of their normal jobs to help provide support in prepping cargo for air movement, and we have also experienced an increase in our fueling requirements. Our fuels flight had their busiest day on Oct. 2, when they issued the second largest amount of fuel within a 24-hour period in wing history. With an original requirement of 15,000 gallons of Jet A fuel going into the day, the requirement quickly grew to 218,000 gallons instead.”
According to Sanders, the Fuels Management Flight has issued over 750,000 gallons of fuel and has completed 96 fueling missions in less than a month.
“Every aircraft that touches down at MacDill AFB is supported by someone in the LRS in some way or another,” concluded Smith. “The capacity and capability we are able to provide is enormous, and the LRS family is proud to be a part of such an important mission.”