Cherry Point APOE serves as center of travel for East Coast Marines

Photo By Lance Cpl. Cory D. Polom | Aerial Port of Embarkation Marines push a storage unit onto an Air Force Lockheed C-130J “Super” Hercules aboard Cherry Point. “Almost every East Coast Marine who deploys goes through the APOE,” said Sgt. Darrell P. Cohn, the operations chief with Aerial Port Operations Group.  

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, NC, UNITED STATES

02.24.2011

Story by Pfc. Cory D. Polom 

II Marine Expeditionary Force   

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, N.C. -- All East Coast Marines ranging from infantry Marines to wing Marines will fly through the Aerial Port of Embarkation at either Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point or MCAS Beaufort, S.C., en route to their journey toward a deployment.

“We support the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force in deployment and redeployment,” said Sgt. Darrell P. Cohn, the operations chief with aerial port operations group. “We also assist parent units in transporting Marines, sailors and gear to training and humanitarian missions all over the world.”

The APOE plays host to many Marines and sailors while they await their deployment.

“We work hard all day loading up these huge aircraft,” said Cohn. “We have to package everything a specific way because of how we move people from place to place.”

The APOE is assisted by the United States Air Force, and all the gear and passengers have to be weighed, recorded and listed.

“The Air Force usual will inspect what an APOE loads into a crate or onto a pallet,” said Cohn. “We have three Marines here who have been trained by the Air Force as inspectors.”

The inspector’s job is to inspect and list all materials put into the storage containers.

“We use three different ways to store the gear,” said Cohn. “We have quad cons, pal cons and international shipping unit 90s. The ISU 90s are carried out to an aircraft by means of a vehicle called next generation small loaders, or NGSLs.”

According to Cohn, since the beginning of 2010 until July 15, the APOE has had more than 100 planes come through carrying a combined total of more than 52,700 passengers, and nearly 29 million pounds of gear.

• Date Taken: 02.24.2011
• Date Posted: 02.24.2011 08:50
• Story ID: 65986
• Location: MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, NC, US