By 1st Lt. Henry Chan
16th Sustainment Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command Public Affairs
CHISINAU, Moldova – Soldiers from the Kaiserslautern, Germany-based 39th Transportation Battalion, 16th Sustainment Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, traveled to Moldova with Airmen from the Air Force 435th Air Mobility Squadron based out of Ramstein Airbase, Germany to send Moldovan troops to the Kosovo Training Ground.
The Moldovan Soldiers were sent in support of a NATO Kosovo Force, or KFOR peacekeeping mission.
With the whirling sound of four 4,591 horsepower engines , the combined group of U.S. Airmen and Soldiers departed Ramstein Airbase early March 7 in a C-130 “Hercules” cargo transport aircraft and met with their Moldovan counterparts once on the ground.
16th SB Movement Specialist Soldiers Sgt. Maureen Asiimwe and Pfc. Jakara Burt manifested, inspected and certified movement for near 15,000 pounds of cargo, hazardous material and a platoon of Moldovan troops.
“It was our first time supporting the Moldovans, and it was their [the Moldovan Army’s] first time going on this type of mission,” said Asiimwe, a native of Kampala, Uganda. “You could feel their anxiousness and tension, that they were going to something bigger and greater and that they were looking forward to working side-by-side with other nations.”
The Moldovan president, the French and the Italian ambassadors to Moldova, went to the airfield to send off the troops.
This was the first mission for Burt.
“I was also able to learn a lot not only from my (noncommissioned officer), but also the Air Force [inspection] team,” said Burt, a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “(Germany) is my first duty station out of (training), so I was able to put forth a lot that I learned at school. It was a constant, ‘Oh, I remember this.”
After the Airmen and Soldiers safely transported the Moldovan Soldiers and cargo to Kosovo, they returned to Germany.
“As transporters, this is what we do. Nothing happens until something moves. It was a great feeling that we were able to make the mission happen for the Moldovan troops,” said Asiimwe.