Space Force Relies on Airmen to Recruit, But Change Is Coming

Aug. 16, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

The Space Force isn’t quite ready to take full responsibility for recruiting its own Guardians yet, but the service is preparing a detachment within the Air Force Recruiting Service to build a strategy for doing so, Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force John F. Bentivegna said this week.

Right now, AFRS is responsible for recruiting for both services, and almost all of its recruiters are Airmen. While there are some Space Force-focused recruiters, they are few and far between, leaving many prospective Guardians to work with recruiters who are not exactly space experts.

“As it stands right now, we just have Air Force recruiters turned Space Force recruiters that have no information beyond just the enlistment process,” an Air Force recruiter told Bentivegna during a question-and-answer session at the Air Force Sergeants Association convention in Houston. The recruiter asked if the service was looking to develop its own recruiting cadre.

“Recruitment is service business,” Bentivegna said, distinguishing it from support functions provided by the Air Force, such as security forces and public affairs, to ensure the young service stays lean and mission-focused. “But we were not ready to start doing that ourselves. So we asked our teammates in the Air Force to start doing that.”

The Space Force relies on training classes to give recruiters a crash course in space, so they can better answer recruits’ questions. That will change eventually, Bentivegna said. But the Space Force is standing up a detachment to start crafting a recruiting strategy.

“We’re actually hoping to stand up our first recruiting, excuse me, scouting detachment and stand up a talent Guardian scouting squadron within the Air Force Recruiting Service, probably in [2025],” Bentivegna said. “There’s already been a lieutenant colonel identified as the first commander. We had a special duty board where we selected the first tranche of talent scouts, Guardian scouts. … We haven’t settled on a phrase yet.”

The scouting detachment aims to learn best practices from industry and other services.

“How do the Marines recruit? How does the Special Operations community recruit?” he said. “…Their job is going to be, what are the best practices between the services and industry? What can we learn from academia? And then start to define, what is the strategy for the Space Force going forward?”

In the meantime, it will be “at least another year or so” of the current setup, where Airmen recruit new Guardians, the CMSSF said.

That approach has worked well thus far—the Space Force has hit its recruiting goals and is on pace to do so again this year, with plenty of public interest in the young, high-tech service.

But there are service-specific differences and quirks, and Bentivegna made clear that the USSF wants to develop its own recruiters who understand the service and space as a whole.

“We’re putting skin in the game. We’re investing and trying to figure out strategies,” he said.

The Space Force has already worked on developing its own curriculum for Basic Military Training and has sent Guardians to attend instructor schools with the Air Force and Army.

‘Devil Raiders’ Resolve Chaos, Get Fighters Going at Massive Exercise

Aug. 16, 2024 | By David Roza

MOJAVE, Calif.—Like a shrine in a temple, the plastic dog sat atop a projector in the center of the tactical operations tent for the 621st Contingency Response Squadron, reminding the Airmen inside that they could still accomplish the mission despite challenging circumstances.

The plastic totem is a reference to a popular meme where a dog in a bowler hat tells itself “this is fine” despite the room burning down around it. The meme is worthy of contingency response, or CR, which opens up air bases in austere and unpredictable conditions.

“We wear this CR tab very proudly,” said squadron commander Lt. Col. Andy Nation, one of the ‘Devil Raiders’ of the 621st Contingency Response Wing. “But every single time we exercise and conduct operations, you will find chaos everywhere. We find solutions to bring things together and resolve everything. And so we’ve come to adopt CR as meaning ‘chaos resolved.’”

CR had plenty of chaos to resolve at Bamboo Eagle, a new series of exercises where combat aircraft operate out of small air bases scattered across the West Coast instead of large ones that present juicy targets for long-range missiles. The concept is called Agile Combat Employment (ACE), and it requires working closely with mobility aircraft—the transports and tankers that move bomb carts, generators, and other equipment for re-arming and refueling combat aircraft.

“Air Combat Command does not have a heavy port footprint, so when they’re trying to establish their mission generation force elements [MGFEs], they need someone to catch that equipment that comes on cargo aircraft: all the things they need to bed down a base,” Nation explained.

Bedding down a base sounds simple, but it hinges on the nitty-gritty details that make airpower possible: are the bomb carts and power generators loaded properly so that C-17s can safely fly them to another airfield? Once it gets there, are there enough forklifts to quickly download cargo before the C-17 can be targeted by a missile? If the airfield is targeted, how do Airmen request C-130s to take them and their equipment to a new one?

Answering those questions is where contingency response comes in. CR’s “bread-and-butter” is opening and closing air bases to support wartime or humanitarian efforts, the lieutenant colonel said. Doing so usually requires moving in small, maneuverable groups, but CR is going even smaller and more agile in preparation for possible conflict with China, where the vast distances of the Pacific Ocean will make space aboard America’s limited airlift fleet a scarce resource.

“There’s only so many C-17s, and we have to move the Army,” said Lt. Col. Andrew Morris, director of operations for the 621st CRS.

Status Quo

CR missions typically go like this: first an airfield assessment team of about eight Airmen equipped with Humvees or ATVs ride a C-130 out to an airfield to gauge its suitability for military aircraft. Next, either a Contingency Response Team or a Contingency Response Element shows up to stand up the air base. A CRT typically involves about 25 Airmen, a few vehicles, and a forklift, all of which can fit on three C-130s or a single C-17, and they can operate one shift a day on a limited airfield for about 45 days.

A CRE is intended for larger operations, with about 108 Airmen, three forklifts and other vehicles, and enough tents and supplies to operate an airfield for two shifts a day for up to 60 days before typically handing it off to more permanent forces. But the CRE footprint is big, requiring five C-17s or 12 C-130s.

Both models have had great success in the past: CR played a crucial role shutting down U.S. air bases in Afghanistan in 2021 and, just a few months later, briefly turning Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport into one of the busiest airports in the world as 124,000 refugees streamed out of the country.

During unrest in Haiti in April, the 621st CRW experimented with a new formation called contingency support elements (CSEs), bare-bones teams that can hop off a single C-130, support airfield operations for a limited time, then hop back out to a new location. For the Haiti response, a CRE stayed in Joint Base Charleston, S.C. while CSEs of about 20 Airmen flew down to Port-au-Prince, worked the airport, then flew back at night.

“It was a short-term solution to ‘hey, what is the bare minimum we need to get to the airfield, operate it, download the aircraft, and then get out of there each day,’” said Maj. Jacob Draszkiewicz, commander of the 521st CRS response element at Bamboo Eagle.

At Bamboo Eagle, each CR squadron operated out of a “hub” where they placed their tactical operations center. For the 621st, the hub was Mojave Air & Space Port, Calif., while the hub for the 521st was about a 30-minute drive east at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Each hub oversaw three or four smaller airfields, called spokes, across the state.

The squadrons sent CSEs of about eight Airmen each from the hubs to the spokes, where they would catch aircraft, unload gear, and either stay overnight or jet out again to return to the hub or work another spoke, depending on the mission. Over the course of Bamboo Eagle, CSEs helped turn F-16s at Victorville, Calif., moved bomb loaders and other equipment between spokes, and responded to last-minute taskings when well-laid plans fell through.

“You don’t have as much capability with that CSE, but you’re tailoring it to just do what you need to do at that airfield, so you can retain other forces back in the hub to task elsewhere,” Draszkiewicz explained.

Swiss Army Airmen

CSEs are highly modular so they can respond to different missions. Some may have more aerial porters to focus on offloading cargo, while others have more Security Forces Airmen who can protect troops on the ground. But the concept fails without each Airman picking up skills outside their usual specialty, a concept now dubbed “mission-ready Airmen.” While it may be a new idea for many Air Force units, it’s old hat at CR squadrons.

“We train every day to be able to plug in holes with someone who maybe was not specifically trained to do that thing,” said Nation. “So a pilot can spin up that generator, or plug in these power distribution systems, or go do some special fueling operations.”

Staff Sgt. Jonathan Esqueda, 621st Contingency Response Wing Commanders Action Group, and Airman 1st Class Paris McGraw, 521st CRS Aerial Porter, secures a 10K all-terrain forklift onto a C-17 Globemaster III in preparation of a Contingency Support Element team forward deployment during Exercise Bamboo Eagle 24-3 August 5 on Edwards Air Force Base, California. (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Stephanie Squires)

Beyond mastering different skills, being mission-ready involves preparing to improvise solutions for unexpected problems. During the Kabul airlift, CR Airmen jerry-rigged snow plows to clear the airport ramp of trash, put down lights for guiding aircraft at night when the generators went down, and hot-wired abandoned cars to get around the airfield faster.

Fast-forward three years to Bamboo Eagle, and CR was back at it. Morris, a C-130 pilot by training, guided a contractor through generator reset procedures over FaceTime to get air conditioning in the TOC back online in 100-degree heat, while other 621st Airmen borrowed a nearby munitions squadron’s forklift to support an incoming two-ship of C-130s.

“Now we just doubled our throughput to make sure the aircraft don’t get delayed,” Morris said. “It’s little things like that which I think we’re very strong in: ‘hey there’s a problem and we’ll find a way to solve it.’”

Turbulence

To make hubs and spokes work, the CR squadrons are experimenting with new communications gear that lets them share more information over greater distances more securely. These include MPU-5 “smart radios,” ATAK and WinTAK smartphones, and Starshield, a military adaptation of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network. Starshield and the MPU-5s give the CR “instant internet,” Nation said.

“Instead of your line-of-sight PRC-152 radio where I’m talking to somebody just across the flight line, this … sets up a mesh capability, so every MPU-5 is a repeater, and the more of them you have, the stronger the whole signal is in that area,” he said. “As long as you have connectivity to the internet in another location [it’s] as if you were right next door to them.”

But not all mobility aircraft enjoy the same connectivity, a point which Air Mobility Command boss Gen. Mike Minihan wants to address through his “25 by 25” initiative. For example, some aircraft can call CR Airmen hours away via satellite phone, while others are limited to high-frequency radios or even shorter-range devices.

The mix of communication systems does not stop CR, which will find a way to adapt, Morris said, but it meant locating aircraft for planning purposes was a challenge throughout the exercise. On the other hand, CR has to be prepared to operate without communications systems if they are spoofed or jammed by adversaries, Nation pointed out.

A CSE from the 521st put that skillset to work when they were tasked to a spoke with just a few hours’ notice. Ideally, CR Airmen know what aircraft they’re taking on a mission, how long they’ll be there, where the aircraft is parking, and what to do if things don’t go according to plan, but there wasn’t time to sort out such details, Draszkiewicz said. Still, they had their training and their commander’s intent, so the Airmen got to the spoke and helped turn fighters as required.

“Working through those challenges—delays, maintenance issues, things like that—is what really prepares the team,” the major said.

Another challenge came from working with combat aircraft units, a first for many mobility Airmen and vice versa. At Bamboo Eagle, the CR squadrons fell under two Air Combat Command wings: the 23rd Wing for the 621st CRS and the 9th Reconnaissance Wing for the 521st CRS. The combat wings served as Air Expeditionary Wings, controlling fighters, tankers, airlift, and other assets from the hubs at Mojave and Edwards.

“This is the first exercise I’ve been on where AMC and ACC are directly integrated, which is awesome, but with that comes some hurdles as to be expected,” Draszkiewicz said.

For example, ACC Airmen may not know what website to go to and what form to fill out for requesting airlift; what equipment needs to be at an airfield to offload cargo; or how many Airmen are needed to operate it. CR brought their colleagues up to speed, a familiar situation since CR often works closely with the Army and has to translate Air Force for Soldiers.

“It would seem like Air Force could talk to Air Force, but that’s not realistic, and that is evident in this exercise,” Draszkiewicz said. “We’re working through it.”

The integration extended to the spokes, where fighter and airlift maintainers swapped insight for fixing each other’s aircraft. Recently, CR units have started adding fighter and helicopter maintainers to their ranks to prepare for “any contingency situation thrown at us,” said Tech Sgt. Christopher Hokanson, a C-130 crew chief by training.

“This is actually one of our first exercises where we’re incorporating all those different maintainers and teaching them what we do, and they’re also showing us the fighter and the helicopter aspects that we heavy crew chiefs are not familiar with,” he said.

Building the Narrative

Draszkiewicz said afterwards that the exercise was overall “a huge success,” and that CR is at a 90 percent solution in terms of figuring out CSEs. One area left to resolve is laying out guardrails for how long CSE members ought to work before resting, “just to make sure that we’re still operating safely and prepared to do the mission at the same time,” Draszkiewicz said.

The unpredictable nature of CSE work means it can be difficult to keep regular shifts, especially when communications trouble means that a C-130 might appear overhead at any minute. But setting guardrails for shifts isn’t something to be left open-ended, the major said.

In a way, CSEs are nothing new: Draszkiewicz pointed out that the U.S. island-hopped all over the Pacific to win World War II. Exercises like Bamboo Eagle serve as refreshers on the tiny details that make such movements possible. It also reminds the Air Force writ large that no one fights alone.

“It just built the narrative … the Air Force has many different entities who do different things, but not one can do everything by itself,” he said. “It takes collective will, knowledge, and ability to move the pieces around where they need to go in order to accomplish the mission.”

Staff Sgt. Tyler Ashworth, 621st Contingency Response Squadron watches as a C-17 Globemaster III taxis down the runway during exercise Bamboo Eagle 24-3 August 4 at Mojave Air & Space Port, Calif. (Air & Space Forces Magazine photo by David Roza)

Yokota Evacuates C-130Js Ahead of Major Typhoon

Aug. 16, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

Yokota Air Base evacuated 11 C-130J Super Hercules in under 24 hours ahead of a typhoon nearing Japan packing the punch of a Category 4 hurricane.

The 374th Airlift Wing flew the cargo aircraft out on Aug 16 out of “an abundance of caution” to maintain combat readiness and protect the aircraft from potential damage.

“For us, launching the fleet wasn’t just about the preventative measures, but that we can demonstrate deterrence to our adversaries,” Technical Sgt. Joshua Rice, 374th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief, said in a release.

Col. Richard McElhaney, 374th Airlift Wing commander, Col. Brett Cochran, 374th Airlift Wing deputy commander and Chief Master Sgt. Colby Brusch, 374th Maintenance Group senior enlisted leader, approach a U.S. Air Force C-130J Super Hercules at Yokota Air Base, Japan, August 16, 2024. The wing leadership team went out to the flightline to observe aircraft and crews departing station to preserve combat capability amid the approach of Typhoon Ampil. In addition to aircraft generation, Yokota Air Base units also took additional measures to ensure readiness including placing sandbags in areas prone to water pooling and sheltering vehicles and other airframes for protection. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. DeAndre Curtiss)

Col. Richard McElhaney, 374th Airlift Wing commander, speaks with a 36th Airlift Squadron crew chief at Yokota Air Base, Japan, August 16, 2024. The wing leadership team went out to the flightline to observe aircraft and crews departing station to preserve combat capability amid the approach of Typhoon Ampil. In addition to aircraft generation, Yokota Air Base units also took additional measures to ensure readiness including placing sandbags in areas prone to water pooling and sheltering vehicles and other airframes for protection. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. DeAndre Curtiss)

A maintainer assigned to the 374th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron prepares to marshal a U.S. Air Force C-130J Super Hercules at Yokota Air Base Japan, August 16, 2024. At the direction of Col. Richard McElhaney, 374th Airlift Wing commander, the 374th Operations Group in tandem with the 374th Maintenance Group prepared, generated and launched eleven C-130Js in less than 24 hours as a preventive measure to avoid mission degradation due to Typhoon Ampil. In addition to aircraft generation, Yokota Air Base units also took additional measures to ensure readiness including placing sandbags in areas prone to water pooling and sheltering vehicles and other airframes for protection. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. DeAndre Curtiss)

Typhoon Ampil swiped eastern Japan on Aug. 16 with strong winds and torrential rain, causing power outage, hundreds of flight and train cancellations, and mandatory evacuations. Tokyo, the nation’s capital, saw flooded streets and fallen trees blocking roadways in the city and nearby prefectures, according to local reports.

Yokota, just 30 miles from Tokyo, is the only U.S. base in Japan with C-130J aircraft and serves as the Air Force’s primary airlift hub in the Western Pacific. The Airmen on site were initially put on ‘BRAVO’ status that signals a heightened state of readiness, and given the green light for the mass deployment of the fleet on the morning of the operation. Under BRAVO alert, aircraft are expected to be ready for departure 3 hours following the alert for C-17, C-130, and KC-10 missions.

“In 25 years of flying, I’ve never seen 100 percent mass generation and execution at this scale,” Col. Richard McElhaney, who took command of the 374th last month, said about the deployment.

The wing did not disclose to where the aircraft were evacuated, but did say the crew prepped the transport planes with maintenance gear to ensure smooth operations off-station and a safe return to Yokota after the typhoon threat passed.

Meanwhile, other aircraft were sheltered in hangars, sandbags were laid in flood-prone areas to protect infrastructure, and vehicles and airframes were tucked away to avoid damage. The base also hosts CV-22 Ospreys, UH-1N Iroquois, and C-12 Hurons.

“Today was easy because of all the work everyone put in, from the aircrews to maintenance and logistics, this showcases what Team Yokota is capable of,” Rice said.

Ampil tracked along Japan’s coast, prompting the evacuation of more than 300,000 residents due to high waves, potential landslides, and increasing rain into Aug. 17. The typhoon had maximum sustained winds of 132 miles per hour and gusts reaching 160 mph, equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane. But with the storm’s center mostly remaining over the ocean, it could weaken to a tropical storm by Aug. 18, and Japan will dodge a worst-case scenario, according to the local authorities. The other two USAF bases in Japan, Kadena and Misawa, are outside the storm’s primary impact zone.

A U.S. Air Force C-130J Super Hercules assigned to the 36th Airlift Squadron prepares to taxi at Yokota Air Base Japan, August 16, 2024. At the direction of Col. Richard McElhaney, 374th Airlift Wing commander, the 374th Operations Group in tandem with the 374th Maintenance Group prepared, generated and launched eleven C-130Js in less than 24 hours as a preventive measure to avoid mission degradation due to Typhoon Ampil. In addition to aircraft generation, Yokota Air Base units also took additional measures to ensure readiness including placing sandbags in areas prone to water pooling and sheltering vehicles and other airframes for protection. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. DeAndre Curtiss)

A U.S. Air Force C-130J Super Hercules assigned to the 36th Airlift Squadron taxis before takeoff at Yokota Air Base Japan, August 16, 2024. At the direction of Col. Richard McElhaney, 374th Airlift Wing commander, the 374th Operations Group in tandem with the 374th Maintenance Group prepared, generated and launched eleven C-130Js in less than 24 hours as a preventive measure to avoid mission degradation due to Typhoon Ampil. In addition to aircraft generation, Yokota Air Base units also took additional measures to ensure readiness including placing sandbags in areas prone to water pooling and sheltering vehicles and other airframes for protection. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. DeAndre Curtiss)

A maintainer assigned to the 374th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron marshals a U.S. Air Force C-130J Super Hercules at Yokota Air Base Japan, August 16, 2024. At the direction of Col. Richard McElhaney, 374th Airlift Wing commander, the 374th Operations Group in tandem with the 374th Maintenance Group prepared, generated and launched eleven C-130Js in less than 24 hours as a preventive measure to avoid mission degradation due to Typhoon Ampil. In addition to aircraft generation, Yokota Air Base units also took additional measures to ensure readiness including placing sandbags in areas prone to water pooling and sheltering vehicles and other airframes for protection. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. DeAndre Curtiss)

A U.S. Air Force C-130J Super Hercules assigned to the 36th Airlift Squadron takes off from Yokota Air Base Japan, August 16, 2024. At the direction of Col. Richard McElhaney, 374th Airlift Wing commander, the 374th Operations Group in tandem with the 374th Maintenance Group prepared, generated and launched eleven C-130Js in less than 24 hours as a preventive measure to avoid mission degradation due to Typhoon Ampil. In addition to aircraft generation, Yokota Air Base units also took additional measures to ensure readiness including placing sandbags in areas prone to water pooling and sheltering vehicles and other airframes for protection. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. DeAndre Curtiss)

Allvin: Vision for New Requirements Command May Be the Toughest of Air Force Reforms

Aug. 16, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

The Air Force’s sweeping re-optimization effort is well underway, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said this week. But there’s one change in particular he is concerned may face some headwinds: the new Integrated Capabilities Command.

The service wants to establish the command, to be led by a three-star general, by the end of this year. ICC is meant to centralize and streamline the Air Force’s process for setting future requirements, while freeing other commands to focus more on current needs.

“There are a lot of things in motion right now,” Allvin said in a recent interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The new command is just one part of an ambitious agenda Allvin and other Department of the Air Force leaders are pursuing. The Air Force is in the process of changing its deployment models, training, concepts of operations, wing structures, and much more as part of its “re-optimization” effort to be better prepared to compete with China.

But when asked which initiative is the furthest away from being realized, Allvin pointed to the new command.

“I would say the one—for the vision that I have at least—is probably a sort of a final answer on Integrated Capabilities Command,” he said at the Pentagon on Aug. 14. “On the other ones, we already sort of have a path, as we know when we’re going to change out the wing structures, how we’re going to change out the commanders, and all that. … We have AFFORGEN to be able to develop and generate the readiness for that. That system is going to be in place.”

In contrast, Integrated Capabilities Command requires setting up a headquarters, which means it will receive special attention from lawmakers and will need Congressional approval.

“It involves moving of people, which is why it’s maybe the longest pole in the tent for a permanent solution,” Allvin said. “However, we can’t wait for the functionality to start.”

So, for now, the Air Force will set up a provisional command in the next three to six months, with experts located at other commands working on holistic requirements.

“We are now working with making the Congressional notifications for doing as much in place as we can, because I have to get the function starting,” Allvin said. “So there will be an element that is a core element that starts doing some of the functions of the Integrated Capabilities Command and the Airmen are being identified at the current MAJCOMs identified that will go.”

In late May, Allvin said around 500-800 Airmen would be working for Integrated Capabilities Command at the start. They would serve at “satellite locations” across the Air Force, including at major commands—though he said at the time those were preliminary figures.

Allvin acknowledged Airmen working at their current locations may create some “friction” at first, though he said “there is value in proximity” of Airmen being linked directly to Major Commands.

“Once we have everyone all in one spot, that’s probably going to be the ultimate solution,” he said.

ICC, Allvin said in his Aug. 14 interview, would start with a “small subset of what we’re expecting them to do.”

“It’ll expand and expand over time as we start maturing them,” Allvin added. “We’re being realistic about the pace at which we do this. … We still have to participate in the [Program Objective Memorandum budget] process and make sure we’re still modernizing the Air Force effectively. So that is one of those that we’re being very thoughtful about how we do it. But I’m anxious because I know the end state is a better modernization and force design execution of the Air Force once we get to that.”

Air Force Reserve Wing Borrows New F-35s as It Waits for Its Own

Aug. 15, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

Two newly manufactured F-35s touched down at the home of the 301st Fighter Wing in Texas last week, as the wing is transitioning from its F-16 fleet to the fifth-generation aircraft.

But the jets are not there to stay; the F-35s that arrived at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth sport “HL” tail codes, as they are assigned to Hill Air Force Base, Utah.

“These brand new jets have not been to Hill yet, but they will eventually head there,” a spokesperson for the 301st Fighter Wing told Air & Space Forces Magazine, adding that the aircraft are scheduled to make their way there by the end of the year. “We’re temporarily using these fighters until then.”

Previously, 301st Wing and Air Force Reserve Command officials said they were expecting the wing to receive first F-35 deliveries by this summer. Now, however, the Texan base is expecting the first delivery of their own stealth fighters in November. The wing is still poised to be the Air Force Reserve’s first standalone F-35 unit, with a total of 26 aircraft.

An F-35A Lightning II belonging to Hill Air Force Base, Utah arrives under a canopy at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas, Aug. 8, 2024. The 301st Fighter Wing is the first Air Force Reserve Command unit to own, maintain and operate the fifth-generation platform. (U.S. Air Force photo by 2nd Lt. Chad Dixon)

“As of now, the plan is to hold the official FAA (first aircraft arrival) ceremony in November this year,” the spokesperson added. “We will be receiving additional aircraft from Lockheed Martin over the next 12 to 15 months.”

Lockheed has been scrambling to up its rate of F-35 deliveries to units after having to store newly built jets for nearly a year due to incomplete software testing. Deliveries only resumed last month, and the long hold disrupted absorption and equipage plans among users, who could not efficiently train new pilots and maintainers of the fighter.

The Government Accountability Office has warned that the contractor will face a tall order in clearing the backlog.

The 301st Fighter Wing declined to comment on whether the temporary stationing of Hill F-35s at the Texan base was due to Lockheed’s delivery hold. The company has said fighters are now being distributed using a “phased” approach, with the U.S. jets delivered first as they complete the “airworthiness process,” with international deliveries to follow.

An F-35A Lightning II from Hill Air Force Base, Utah taxis on the flightline at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas, Aug. 8, 2024. The 301st Fighter Wing is the first Air Force Reserve Command unit to own, maintain and operate the fifth generation platform. (U.S. Air Force photo by 2nd Lt. Chad Dixon)

The 301st spokesperson did say pilots will benefit from early training with the two F-35s. It will also ensure “a smooth transition” as the wing integrates the new aircraft into its operations, replacing their F-16s.

“As we continue to receive aircraft and transition into sustainable operations, we will leverage opportunities to increase all of our Airmen’s F-35 competencies and proficiencies,” Col. Benjamin R. Harrison, 301st Fighter Wing commander, said in a release.

One of the wing’s units, the 457th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, concluded its final deployment with the F-16s last year from Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia. Instead of being retired, the Falcons were redistributed to Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., and Homestead Air Reserve Base, Fla., where they joined the 93rd Fighter Squadron.

“These F-16s have been part of our squadron for almost 30 years and have safely carried [our] pilots through thousands of combat sorties,” Lt. Col. David Snodgrass, commander of the 457th EFS, said in a release. “We intend to carry the strong heritage of F-16 combat prowess forward to the new airplane.”

The wing’s spokesperson noted that there will be some overlap with F-35s assigned to both Hill and the 301st Wing stationed together at the NAS JRB Fort Worth, ensuring the two fighters will stay put at least until November.

Space Forces Europe and Africa Elevated to One-Star Command, Gets New Boss

Aug. 15, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

Less than nine months after standing up, U.S. Space Forces Europe and Africa got a new commander Aug. 13 when Brig. Gen. Jacob Middleton succeeded Col. Max Lantz—an especially noteworthy move for given the Space Force’s small pool of general officers and the service’s efforts to beef up its component commands.

SPACEFOREUR-AF, activated Dec. 8, 2023, with Lantz as its first commander. Despite its small size, leaders say the component is vitally important for establishing a Space Force presence in important regions.

The component has “significantly increased the capability of our joint force while promoting security, stability, and prosperity for our partners,” U.S. Africa Command boss Marine Corps Gen. Michael E. Langley said. “They bring a level of technical expertise to a domain that has rapidly advancing and changing. We need you now more than ever.”

“The command continues to be decisive in U.S. support to Ukraine and the wider defense of Europe,” added U.S. European Command chief of staff Army Maj. Gen. Peter B. Andrysiak Jr. “And being EUCOM’s voice for space, the formation worked tirelessly to establish capability with our new NATO allies and also helping build and synchronize a space engagement strategy nested with EUCOM objectives.”

Both Langley and Andrysiak noted how the component has already contributed to exercises and helped train allies on the importance of space.

For Lantz, standing up the new unit came with plenty of responsibility for a field grade officer.

“Col. Lantz had the unique pleasure of reporting to two separate combatant commanders as well as the Chief of Space Operations. Every Colonel’s dream: three four-star bosses,” CSO Gen. B. Chance Saltzman joked.

U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman speaks at the Space Forces in Europe – Space Forces Africa Change of Command Ceremony at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Aug. 13, 2024. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Edgar Grimaldo

It was a challenge Space Force leaders anticipated when they first started standing up component commands in late 2022.

While U.S. Space Forces Indo-Pacific activated with a brigadier general commander, every other component would have to be led by a colonel, then-Vice CSO Gen. David D. Thompson said at the time, because the service simply wasn’t big enough. By law, the Space Force can only have 21 general officers, with some exceptions.

“Those future component commanders” will need to “punch above their weight,” Thompson said. “You’re going to have to sit at the table with everybody else, and you’re going to have to deliver just like the rest of those people. So it’ll be a challenge to them.”

In Europe and Africa, for example, the heads of the Army, Navy, and Air Force components are all four-stars, while the Marine Corps and Special Operations Command components have two-star leaders.

Langley, Andrysiak, and Saltzman all praised Lantz for advocating for space and ensuring the domain is integrated into planning, exercises, and operations.

Now, Middleton will take over and be responsible for answering the question he said he gets all the time: why space?

“When you take a look at space, I would encourage you to take a look at what we’re doing in the other domains to give you an idea of what we need to do in space,” Middleton said. “Adversaries are recognizing the importance of space. That’s what makes space a contested environment. And we’re going to do here as a component command is to make sure that the advantage of space is always in favor of the U.S. and our allies and partners.”

Having a general officer to lead that mission is important, Saltzman said.

“It’s no coincidence that we brought a general officer to lead this group, elevating the command to a one-star level,” he said. “It reaffirms the Space Force’s commitment, both to the joint force and to our international partners. It continues normalizing the space domain with those of our sister services, each one important and necessary for the success of our combined operations.”

Lantz, for his part, said Middleton “will take the command to the next level and further bring space capabilities to AFRICOM and EUCOM.”

Space Forces Europe and Africa isn’t the only component to get a bump in the rank of its commander. U.S. Space Forces Korea went from Lt. Col. Joshua McCullion to Col. John Patrick in mid-July, and during a recent visit to the Middle East, Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force John Bentivegna suggested Space Forces Central could get a boost too.

“There’s just an expectation regardless of how many Guardians you have, whether it be 300,000 or 10,000, to integrate at the appropriate level,” Bentivegna said. “And so I think we’re trying to articulate the discussion and maybe to expand the headspace for more [general officers] and I think one of those targets would be the service component for CENTCOM.”

Pentagon Editor Chris Gordon contributed to this report.

How the Air Force’s Moves in the Middle East Fit with Changing Deployments

Aug. 15, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

The U.S. Air Force rushed a squadron of advanced F-22 Raptor fighters to the Middle East earlier this month, as the White House stepped up its efforts to deter Iran from attacking Israel. The deployment was a demonstration of the service’s ability to rapidly send military might to a global hotspot. But Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin also sees an illustration of how and why the Air Force is changing its force presentation model.

“The F-22 is a great example of, yes … we can rapidly deploy anywhere in the globe and deliver combat power,” Allvin said in an interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine on Aug. 14.

First ordered to the region Aug. 2 by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, the roughly dozen F-22s from the 90th Fighter Squadron at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska took off for a nearly 6,000-nautical mile trek across North America and the Atlantic, before stopping over at RAF Lakenheath, U.K. The Raptors crossed the Mediterranean Sea with the help of aerial refueling tankers and landed in the Middle East on Aug. 8.

“In this particular case, it was to an established set of infrastructure that was forward located that was close enough to where we may want to employ them that they could get there relatively quickly,” Allvin said during a conversation at the Pentagon.

The F-22 deployment is an example of what is possible under the current model—but one that may struggle in an island-hopping Pacific fight against China.

U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor assigned to the 90th Fighter Squadron, 3rd Wing, are prepared to deploy to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Aug. 6, 2024. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Julia Lebens

“If you’re going to a place that is not fully established, we have to lift and shift so the entire wing apparatus is going to be able to employ from there. So that is a mindset shift [to] not just hunker down in one location,” Allvin said, using the recent large-scale Bamboo Eagle exercise across the West Coast and Pacific as an example. “You actually have to be able to go between the hub and the spokes.”

The Air Force motto of “Airpower, Anytime, Anywhere” is emblazoned in massive letters on the corridor leading to Allvin’s office. New Expeditionary Air Base units are just one of the ways the service is adapting to project power against China, Russia, and other future threats.

It is further restructuring how it deploys forces with new “units of action” that are designed to function as a cohesive force in dispersed locations. It has rethought how it generates forces for anticipated deployments so Airmen are not rushed forward in a crisis, opting for a model called AFFORGEN in which Airmen have six-month cycles to reset, prepare, train, and deploy.

A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor, deployed from 3rd Wing, lands at RAF Lakenheath, U.K., Aug. 6, 2024. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Alexander Vasquez

“We organized our Air Force to be as flexible as possible, break it up into as many small little things as we can, and deploy,” Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. James C. Slife told Air & Space Forces Magazine last year. “We’re in a different strategic environment now.”

The first Airmen to experience XABs and AFFORGEN deployed at roughly the same time as Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages. The subsequent upheaval in the Middle East has led to over 180 attacks on U.S. troops in the region, including a drone attack that killed three Soliders in Jordan in January.

Managing the service during the transition from the old way of doing business to Allvin’s vision of the future can be a challenge, particularly since the plan to structure the service into “units of action” is still ongoing. The Air Force still mostly deploys fighter squadrons as it has for years, with roughly half a squadron being sent forward instead of a full squadron of roughly 24 aircraft.

That happened in the Middle East with the F-22s and prior deployments since the Hamas attack led the U.S. to rush airpower in the region. The U.S. sent roughly a dozen additional F-15Es the day before Iran previously attacked Israel in April. Those extra fighters, along with other American Strike Eagles and F-16s, shot down over 80 Iranian drones, part of a massive barrage of 300 missiles and drones launched at Israel that America and its allies helped to virtually completely defeat.

As the Air Force moves forward with its new deployment plans, leaders have tried to keep the rest of the Pentagon informed. As a service, the Air Force provides forces that are ordered to the region by the Secretary of Defense. The Joint Staff Operations Directorate (J3) helps manage competing requirements.

“The thing we have been doing is, as we’re progressing, we’ve been in constant contact with the J3 saying, … ’Does that make sense to you? When the Combatant Command has a request for forces, this is our force offering. This is why it comes in these packages,’” Allvin said. “And yes, I think what we’re going to find is when we haven’t made it over the hump yet, because we’re still trying to put enough definition for us to be able to clearly say, ‘This is how many we have.’”

Once the changes are complete, the service will have a new network of Expeditionary Air Bases, Air Task Forces, and finally, Deployable Combat Wings—all teams of increasingly tight, deployable forces that are not crowdsourced from across the Air Force but train together and are located together as much as possible. The moves are part of the Air Force’s “re-optimization” effort.

U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to the 3rd Wing prepare to deploy to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Aug. 9, 2024. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman Moises Vasquez

The concept is “many bases aggregating and falling in on one site to actually more unit cohesion leading up to it,” Allvin said. “The XABs were step one, the ATFs are step two, the Deployable Combat Wings are sort of the final instantiation of that. But XABs paid off last October when they went over there, because the first XAB went over Oct. 1. What happened Oct. 7? The units over there in AFCENT [Air Forces Central] said, ‘I was glad … they had already done the pre-deployment site survey, had gone over there, had done those things, and had that familiarity, that understanding.’ It already gave them a leg up. So that was the first inclination that we’re doing things better.”

The F-22 move is part of an overall bid to bolster air and seapower in the region, including through incoming carrier-based F-35 stealth fighters aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and its accompanying Carrier Strike Group. The Air Force has also upped the number of aerial refueling tankers in the region, with various units contributing KC-135 Stratotankers. Allvin did not comment on how many aircraft were deployed to CENTCOM or say where they were located.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin speaks to Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force David Flosi on a C-130J Super Hercules aircraft during Bamboo Eagle 24-3, an Air Combat Command directed exercise, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Aug. 5, 2024. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Julian Atkins

“This is all a path,” Allvin said. “To be clear, if the expectation is that we could potentially get into a major conflict with a peer, I don’t expect that to be a bolt out of the blue. It’s not going to happen overnight. … What happened in the F-22 was clearly an example of our posturing of our forces to be able to ready to respond. But on a large scale, we don’t expect everyone to be able to get up and go in a couple of days.”

The changes enable the Air Force to better weigh capacity and risk as well as increase readiness, service leaders say.

Just as the U.S. Navy has an aircraft carrier heading to CENTCOM and one already in the region, the Air Force wants a more tangible measure of combat power akin to a carrier in the future.

“Once we do that, the credibility will go way up, because it’ll be predictable all the way through,” Allvin said. “And they’ll know, if you use these now, you’re going to lose them here and there’ll be a lot more clarity on the long-term impacts of using up those forces. It’ll never be perfect, because one of the curses is the same blessing of the Air Force’s: our flexibility, right? Flexibility. You can use us anywhere.”

Future Airmen and Guardians Will Now Carry Practice Rifles Throughout Boot Camp

Aug. 14, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

Aspiring Airmen and Guardians at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, are now required to carry a training version of a rifle throughout boot camp—a practice reinstated after more than a decade to foster a “warfighter mindset.”

Starting in late July, trainees arriving for Basic Military Training at the base have been issued an inert M4 carbine after completing their initial week of weapons familiarization. The M4s sport a red flash suppressor to signal their inert status. The trainees are expected to carry the weapon for the remainder of the 7.5-week program and store the rifles in their lockers when they’re in the dorms.

“Incorporating practice weapons into realistic scenarios in a controlled environment builds confidence, corrects errors, and manages stress by providing regular practice that reduces hesitation and increases combat effectiveness,” said Col. Billy Wilson Jr., commander of the 737th Training Group, who reinstituted the program.

U.S. Air Force Basic Military Training trainees carry weapons at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland on August 2, 2024. Beginning on July 29, 2024, Col. Billy Wilson Jr., 737th Training Group commander, launched a weapons handling initiative. From now on, BMT trainees will carry weapons throughout their 7.5 weeks of training to instill a profession of arms and a warrior mindset into the future Airmen. JBSA-Lackland is home to USAF BMT where enlisted civilians are transformed into capable Airmen. U.S. Air Force photo by Ava Leone

This program, requiring trainees to be responsible for their rifle on a daily basis, was previously halted in 2012. But the 737th Training Group that oversees Basic Military Training is now stressing the importance of instilling a “warfighter mindset” as crucial for preparing future Airmen and Guardians for great power competition against the likes of China.

“When they march down the Bomb Run during graduation from Basic Military Training, Aimen and Guardians will feel better prepared for the operational environment they are about to enter,” added Wilson.

Over the years, weapons familiarization has been a consistent part of BMT. In 2019, the program transitioned from the M16A2 to the M4.

The M4 carbine, the most commonly used weapon in deployed locations, offers several advantages over the M16. Its shorter barrel makes it lighter and more maneuverable, ideal for tight spaces and fast-moving situations. The firearm’s modular design, including the Picatinny rail and adjustable stock, allows for easy attachment of scopes, flashlights, and night vision gear, enhancing its versatility in tactical scenarios. Plus, training on the M4 automatically qualifies Airmen and Guardians to handle the M16A3, but not vice versa. The Marines have also switched from M16 to M4 for their training programs in 2016.

Since 2019, trainees at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland have been hitting the revamped range for hands-on firearm training, earning the Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon and proving their M4 skills in the process. The base has been producing more than 40,000 Airmen and Guardians proficient in the M4 annually.

“The thought was, if the rest of the Air Force is in a permanent state of readiness, why would our BMT trainees be any different,” Tech. Sgt. Joshua Stearns, Combat Weapons Flight noncommissioned officer in charge, said in a release at the time.

Air Force Basic Military Training trainees fire their M-4 Carbine during a weapons familiarization course, June 8, 2019, at Joint Base San Antonio-Medina Annex. U.S. Air Force photo by Sarayuth Pinthong

Fast forward to 2024, and trainees are carrying a practice version of the weapon daily and instructors are helping them cultivate a “sense of ownership” for their gear. Just two weeks into the program’s implementation, Wilson added that the training has received “positive feedback” from both students and instructors.

“This represents a significant advancement in the training process and in the professional development of our nation’s newest warfighters,” said Wilson. “It fosters the combat-ready mindset necessary for addressing future challenges.”

Trainees are expected to have their rifle on them at all times, except:

when at medical and processing appointments

when wearing any combination of the service uniform

when on a profile that prevents them from carrying it

This is just the latest change to come to BMT in recent years, including dropping BEAST Week in favor of an Agile Combat Employment-focused exercise, a revamped Zero Week to better prepare recruits for the stress of boot camp, and a new Space Force-specific curriculum for Guardians.

Sun, Spades, and Forklifts: ‘Port Dawgs’ Run the Show at Bamboo Eagle

Aug. 14, 2024 | By David Roza

MOJAVE, Calif.—It was a quiet Sunday morning before the C-17 arrived. Hundreds of wind turbines churned the 100-degree desert air over the nearby Tehachapi Mountains, and the only air traffic above the Mojave Air and Space Port was a football tossed back and forth by a few Airmen waiting on the sun-blasted flightline.

But when the whale-shaped transport jet with its four roaring engines finally appeared in the empty blue sky, the Airmen put down the football and donned ear protection as they prepared to download the gray beast’s precious cargo.

Time was of the essence: the C-17 had a long list of stops to make and material to move before the start of one of the Air Force’s largest exercises of the year, which would see thousands of troops and more than 150 aircraft practice air warfare over the deserts, valleys, and waters of the west coast. The aircrew would keep the engines running to avoid the long shutdown and restart process; but that also put pressure on the ground crew to move its 25 tons of unwieldy cargo as quickly as possible.

Luckily, Engine-Running Offloads/Onloads (EROs) were nothing new for the seven Airmen waiting on the flightline. An experienced crew from the 621st Contingency Response Squadron, the team included aircraft maintainers, airfield managers, and, perhaps most important for this exercise, aerial porters. Also known as “port dawgs,” aerial porters take cargo and people off and on military aircraft under difficult conditions and tight deadlines.

While it sounds simple, aerial porting is a delicate balance of math, physics, technique, and elbow grease which, if improperly mixed, can endanger aircrews and slow the movement of war-winning equipment or life-saving supplies by days when every minute counts.

“Planes are most vulnerable when they are on the ground,” said Lt. Col. Andrew Morris, director of operations for the 621st. “The faster we can get the stuff on and take it off, the better it is for them.”

The C-17 touched down at about 10:19 a.m. on Aug. 4. The clock began to tick.

The Art of the Load Plan

The Mojave download was part of a new series of exercises called Bamboo Eagle, where combat aircraft operate out of small, scattered air bases instead of large ones that present juicy targets for long-range missiles. The concept is called Agile Combat Employment (ACE), and it requires working closely with mobility aircraft—the transports and tankers that move bomb carts, generators, and other equipment for re-arming and refueling combat aircraft.

At Bamboo Eagle, the simulated war lasted from Aug. 5-10, but in the days leading up to it, mobility Airmen prepositioned combat equipment at unfamiliar airfields in a system of hubs and spokes across the West Coast. Port dawgs not only load and unload the aircraft, they also design the load plan, the blueprint for what cargo goes where on an aircraft.

A poor or unsafe load plan can have serious consequences; too much equipment on the plane’s tail end can prevent takeoff, while fuel leaks or loose parts can damage the aircraft or the crew if a steep bank or climb sends parts flying through the hold.

Calculating a solid load plan involves a long list of factors such as the weight and center of balance for each piece and how it effects the plane’s center of gravity. For example, the T-tail of a C-17 generates lift, which pushes the nose down and makes it fly less efficiently, a key factor in the Pacific where places to land may be few and far between, explained Tech Sgt. Russell Basile, one of the port dawgs at the Mojave airport.

“So if I put the cargo weight in the back to settle the tail down, the pilots have to use less trim to fly the aircraft straight and level,” Basile said, “and when it’s flying straight and level, it’s the most fuel efficient.”

To make things easier, the length of the C-17 cargo hold is marked with numbers like a ruler, and the center of balance on cargo pieces are marked with duct tape and aligned with those numbers according to the load plan.

Port dawgs also have to consider the cargo’s weight under three Gs, which means an 11,000-pound piece has to be secured as if it weighs 33,000 pounds. The porters and loadmasters use chains to tie down the cargo, but different chains support different amounts of weight. Likewise, a C-17 has 295 rings on its cargo deck for tying down chains and straps, but the weight tolerance varies between rings.

To make things even more complicated, all the chains and straps have to be arranged symmetrically and in pairs, and they have to secure the movement of the piece in multiple directions, which means there is a specific way to tie down cargo.

“It’s playing Tetris and putting puzzle pieces together,” Basile said. “And as you’re putting the pieces together, you’re also thinking ‘How am I going to balance everything? And how is it going to be for tie-down?’”

Experience Counts

Regulations require the load plan be put together six hours before an aircraft’s scheduled departure. But once the load plan is complete, the cargo still needs to get onto or off the jet via a forklift, a conveyer belt, or just rolling it up or down the ramp, all of which takes math, since the forklifts can take only so much weight and the cargo ramp may be too steep or shallow for the piece rolling off.

There’s an entire agency, the Air Transportability Test Loading Agency at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, that certifies cargo for air transport and calculates things like the degree pitch for getting the cargo down a ramp, sometimes just based on photos and measurements sent by the port dawgs.

“They can generate a cert letter saying, ‘hey, based on the dimensions of that bomb loader and the degree pitch of the ramp, if we don’t decrease the angle, then it’s going to scrape the ramp as it goes down,’” Basile explained.

The port dawgs keep scraps of wood and other materials that serve as “shoring,” which lets expensive cargo safely on and off the aircraft. Juggling all these factors with jet engines running takes practice.

“Experience is looking at the piece and knowing immediately, ‘hey, I’ll need shoring for this, I just don’t remember the dimensions. Where’s the cert letter?’” Basile said.

Airmen from the 15 Expeditionary Airlift Squadron guide a forklift onto a C-17 Globemaster III before the start of Exercise Bamboo Eagle 24-3 August 1 at Edwards AFB, California. (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Stephanie Squires)

Loading cargo via forklift also takes experience: it can take as long as six months to master the All Terrain Materials Handling Forklift, a green behemoth that port dawgs rely on to move up to 10,000 pounds over non-paved surfaces.

“Like with everything, proficiency takes time,” said Senior Airman Victor Colas, another port dawg at the Mojave airport.

The ‘AT’ tends to be the most important piece of equipment port dawgs take downrange with them, Colas said. They can even take the cab off the top so it can fit aboard a C-130, though that requires removing a counterweight and lowering the AT’s lift strength to about 8,500 pounds. Forklift availability makes a big difference, said one of the pilots of the C-17 that flew into Mojave on Aug. 4.

“If you have only one forklift and a cargo load full of pallets, it’s going to take a while,” said Capt. Robert Talbot of the 15th Airlift Squadron. If there are not enough aerial porters around, sometimes the pilots pitch in to move the cargo. Those changing factors mean crews are constantly “recrunching, rethinking about the time you need on the ground,” Talbot said.

The port dawgs at Mojave went to work fast, falling into a choreography guided by hand signals and huddles with the loadmasters. For all the math and machines port dawgs rely on, sometimes it takes raw elbow grease to move cargo on and off aircraft, a tall order in the 100-degree Mojave morning.

There are worse conditions: Senior Master Sgt. Doug Karaffa remembered his boots sticking to a runway in Iraq under 142-degree heat. Still, port dawgs are “blessed,” he said, because at least they can take off their uniform blouses and often don’t have to wear body armor or weapons like Security Forces Airmen or the trigger-pullers in other services.

Acing ACE

Bamboo Eagle is meant to prepare the Air Force for ACE, which aims to project airpower with the smallest, most maneuverable logistical footprint possible. The port dawgs at Mojave belong to the 621st Contingency Response Wing, which specializes in standing up air bases at austere locations. But even the CR field wants to go smaller for ACE: a new feature at Bamboo Eagle was the Contingency Support Element (CSE): teams of just seven or eight Airmen who can fly out to a spoke, download all the cargo that combat aircraft and ground crews need to start turning fighters, then fly out to a new location.

“Our job is to be on alert for any mission that comes in,” said Staff Sgt. Jonathan Esqueda, who led one of the CSEs at Bamboo Eagle under the 521st Contingency Response Squadron, a component of the 621st Contingency Response Wing.

Esqueda and his six CSE teammates packed 72-hour bags so they were ready to fly out with an aircraft and download its cargo at a moment’s notice, a rare opportunity in the aerial port field, where most squadrons remain at a single base and work regular schedules.

“I’m usually just in one location, working 12-hour shifts, and that’s it, so this is awesome to me,” Esqueda said.

The card game Spades is a pastime among port dawgs, Esqueda said, and with good reason; several flights at Bamboo Eagle were delayed or canceled when jets broke down or cargo was improperly configured, which slowed the prepositioning process and led to CSE teams waiting for flights that never arrived.

To illustrate how complicated Air Force logistics can get: half the aircrew aboard the C-17 at Mojave was from Joint Base Charleston, S.C., while the other half and the jet they flew was from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., and the cargo they carried was from the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, but they picked it up at Travis Air Force Base, Calif.

To an extent, Bamboo Eagle was designed to practice dealing with those complications. But when the port dawgs finally had a chance to do their job, they didn’t disappoint. At Mojave, the team of porters and loadmasters finished downloading 50,340 pounds of bomb transport carts, nitrogen carts, air conditioning systems, and other gear with just one forklift in about 40 minutes.

That kind of speed “is on par with an experienced crew,” Basile said, as the unladen C-17 taxied back onto the runway. “When you have loadmasters and aerial porters on the same wavelength, it’s like ‘hey, we know what we’re doing, let’s just go.’”