Aerial porters: total force enabling global airlift.

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On the west coast of the United States lies one of Air Mobility Command's busiest flightlines, Travis Air Force Base, Calif. The sheer number of flights launched from the "Gateway to the Pacific" on a daily basis keeps a Total Force team of Airmen hopping around the clock.

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Operations on the Travis flightline function much like other airports except for the volume. Airmen at this northern California base handle more cargo and passengers than any other military air terminal in the Air Force.

In 2008, Airmen at Travis moved more than 50,000 tons of cargo through their doors, processed more than 43,000 passengers through the passenger terminal and launched nearly 5,400 missions from their flightline.

Each day these Airmen make sure cargo and passengers are loaded efficiently and safely onto the aircraft and ensure they are ready to go on time. On the flightline, they are known as aerial porters or air transportation specialists.

At one end of the flightline, porters unload cargo from arriving aircraft or truck to take to a warehouse for processing. After that, it's loaded onto waiting aircraft. At the other end of the massive flightline, aerial porters ticket passengers and palletize their luggage at the passenger terminal.

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Collecting, organizing, weighing, loading and a multitude of other tasks related to efficiently moving cargo takes a highly-trained and motivated force, and in this case it is a team made up of both Air Force Reserve and active-duty Airmen, working side-by-side to get their mission done. The main components of the team come from the 45th, 55th and 82nd Aerial Port Squadrons of the Reserve. The active-duty contingent comes from the 60th APS. Together they operate the terminal day and night.

The 60th APS is part of the 60th Air Mobility Wing. The wing is the host unit for Travis AFB and is the largest air mobility organization in the Air Force. It has a versatile all-jet fleet of C-5 Galaxy and

C-17 Globemaster III cargo and KC-10 Extender refueling aircraft. The unit's primary roles are to provide rapid, reliable airlift of American fighting forces anywhere on Earth in support of national objectives and to extend the reach of American and allied air power through mid-air refueling. Wing activity focuses in the Pacific and Indian Ocean area, including Alaska and Antarctica. However, 60th AMW crews can fly support missions anywhere in the world.

The Reserve aerial port squadrons fall under the 349th AMW, also at Travis. Airmen of the 349th, the largest associate wing in Air Force Reserve Command, fly the C-5 Galaxy, KC-10 Extender and the C-17 Globemaster III in addition to other missions. They use these aircraft to transport people and materiel worldwide as well as refuel a wide array of airframes. The wing, made up of nearly 3,500 Reservists, in work side-by-side with their active-duty counterparts.

Both units are in partnership to provide combat-ready Airmen and expeditionary support to the warfighter.

"We are supporting the overall mission of the Air Force. At the unit level we are training our members to do the job, and then we have requirements in support of the active-duty and the Air Force mission. That's what we do. It's global," said Master Sgt. Mark Edger, 55th APS air transportation standards and evaluation evaluator.

This partnership began in 2004 when Reserve and active-duty units began working together at this terminal. The two teams together became fully-integrated and built their partnership to what it is today.

"It took us some work and time to get the communication working and build the relationship between us," said Chief Master Sgt. Buford Hadley, 55th APS air transportation manager.

"Understanding the active-duty world versus the Reservist world, you want to talk Total Force. At this port, we have Total Force. This is a Total Force base. I have never experienced this before. It is not us and them, it's us. We have a team here. We are 'Port Dawgs.'"

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While training and working together, this team blends together, creating such a seamless team that even those who work on the flightline often can't tell the difference between active and Reserve Airmen.

"I think the 55th, especially as a Reserve unit, has proven itself to the active duty that we are willing to get in and do whatever it takes," said Master Sgt. Scott Bryant, 55th APS assistant NCO in charge of cargo. "As a unit the 55th has made a name for itself. We are with you guys now. Show us what you need done and we will work hard to get it done."

Every day aerial porters are busy inspecting and processing shipments with hazardous items, weighing vehicles, figuring out the most efficient way to load cargo onto an aircraft and determining proper load configurations based on airframe. The goal for these Airmen is to process passengers, tons of cargo and keep Soldiers and Airmen off the roads by reducing the need for convoys.

With the amount of traffic Travis sees in a year, these aerial porters sometimes process unusual cargo and passengers.

In November 2007, Maggie, an elephant, was transported from Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, to Travis for a quick stop before arriving at her final destination at the Performing Animal Welfare Society, an animal sanctuary near San Andreas, Calif.

Several years ago, in 1998, a KC-10 launched from Travis to refuel a C-17 carrying a killer whale. The whale was "Free Willy" star Keiko, who was transported to Heimaey, Iceland, from Oregon after 19 years in captivity and a brief career in the movies.

More recently, a body believed to be a World War II Airman was found frozen in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. The remains were airlifted from Travis to Hickam AFB, Hawaii, for examination at the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command.

Sometimes cargo or passengers need to travel in a hurry. In August 2005, two unmanned, remote-controlled vehicles were sent from Travis to Russia's Pacific coast in an effort to save seven Russian sailors aboard a mini-submarine that sank after its propeller became entangled in either a fishing net or steel cables.

"We don't just move cargo. We are also involved in a lot of contingency operations," said Chief Hadley. "We formed an honor detail to pay the proper respects for the World War II remains before sending them on to Hawaii for identification. We also processed the equipment for helping save the Russian sailors trapped in their sub."

On the West Coast, whether its elephants or unmanned remote-controlled submarines, chances are that cargo has passed through this air terminal at Travis AFB.

When cargo arrives at Travis, depending on the type, it can go to one of two places: the air freight terminal or the passenger terminal.

At the air freight terminal, cargo arrives either by truck or aircraft. It is then processed into a tracking system and assigned to a bay, depending on where it's going and how it's going to get there. When it is time to move the cargo, Airmen use a vehicle that can move palletized cargo from shelves to the docks. This vehicle is called the ETV, an electronic transfer vehicle.

The ETV is a crane-like vehicle that rides on rails back and forth between two stacks of shelves that hold cargo for shipping. The vehicle moves pallets from the warehouse to the docks where they are then loaded onto a large truck with a conveyer system called a K-loader. Aimen operating the K-Loader transport the cargo to the aircraft. The warehouse is also a shipping point for cargo brought into the facility for processing and delivery by truck.

When an aircraft is ready for its cargo, aerial porters use a load plan to determine where the cargo will be placed inside the airframe. When developing the plan, an experienced porter uses the weights and measures of all the pallets, vehicles and other equipment in a series of complex calculations determining how his team will load the cargo. It all must be sequenced with precision to ensure efficiency and safety. Each aircraft has a certain amount of cargo space available and the porter creating the load plan has to know the specifics of the airframe for which he is planning the load. The plan also provides information about the cargo, whether it's beans and bullets, a helicopter fuselage, an Army tank or even hazardous material. The aerial porter needs to know these important details and must be able to communicate them to the aircrews and to the porters on the receiving end.

A proper load plan is essential to aircrews as well. Cargo that is improperly loaded can cause the aircraft to fly inefficiently. Too much weight in the wrong place or not correctly balanced can cause the aircraft to use too much fuel or not meet the launch-weight restrictions. Loadmasters work closely with the porters, as they become responsible for the cargo in flight.

"We have to meet a sequence of events. We have to have the cargo at the aircraft at a certain time, we have to load it in a certain amount of time and the aircraft leaves at a certain time," said Senior Airman Devin Mayhair, 60th APS team chief. "If we are slow on the upload it comes back on us, and we don't look good out there. So sometimes we have to hoof it to get the job done."

When everything works according to plan and the aircraft is leaving on time it gives the aerial porters a sense of accomplishment.

"The best thing about being an aerial porter is you get to meet a lot of people and get to load important cargo. Especially if it is to save a warfighter's life, then we need to get that stuff out of here as soon as possible," said Airman Mayhair.

At the other end of the flightline, the passenger terminal stays just as busy with travelers coming to Travis AFB looking for flights to the Pacific. Aerial porters working here spend their days moving luggage and helping people get to their desired destinations.

The 60th AMW's passenger terminal is a hot spot for anyone who wants to fly Space-A to destinations in the Pacific. Last year aerial porters helped 43,486 people get onto flights leaving Travis.

To get these passengers moving, aerial porters must act as ticket agents, customer service representatives, baggage handlers and customs agents.

"I make sure we are providing the best customer service we can provide, and I help solve issues with passengers and flights that rise from time to time," said Master Sgt. Marvin Jenkins, 55th APS superintendent."

However, the terminal is much more than a Space-A hub. This section also helps process units deploying to contingency operations around the world.

"We get a lot of units deploying through our terminal here and with our own units like 615th Contingency Response Wing. We help get them out to their destinations too," said Sergeant Jenkins.

Even though aerial porters are busy moving cargo and passengers all day long, another aspect of an aerial porter's day is training. With a heavy Reserve involvement on the flightline, a lot of training is conducted around the clock all year long.

"They come here. They train hard, and if it weren't for them being here we [active duty] would be working 12 hours-a day for five or six days a week. With these guys here, it's great," said Staff Sgt. Chad Shaver, 60th APS cargo export supervisor. "They help us out. It took me a year before I knew some of these guys were Reservists."

Since training plays a key role in all aspects of aerial port missions, it has eliminated any division and created a seamless Total Force team.

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"We don't train to be Reservists. We train to perform the mission on an active-duty status. When active-duty Airmen are tasked and are stretched thin manning wise, we jump in and backfill here and also take on deployments," said Chief Hadley.

It is more than training and working long hours that makes this group click. It's family.

Senior Master Sgt. Kevin Brown is the 55th APS ramp superintendent and has been an aerial porter for 29 years. He said being an aerial porter is all about people and family.

"It is the people who make the squadron, because APS troops tend to stay," he said. "It is family first here and then mission. They took me in and trained me to be a part of their family. The first time I went out to load a plane was the second I knew I was in the right spot. I enjoy my job because this is where I grew up and learned the discipline that was needed to not just load planes and drive equipment, but also someplace I could be a part of something bigger than myself. It's not lust loading planes, it's serving my country. For me it's not a sprint, it's a marathon; that is why I enjoy my job."

It makes no matter whether they are working with retirees trying to get to the Philippines or a unit deploying to the other side of the world or even an elephant moving to greener pastures, it is this family of aerial porters who gets that mission done.

PHOTOS BY LANCE CHEUNG * DESIGN BY LUKE BORLAND