Photo By Staff Sgt. Derek Seifert | U.S. Army Darlene Graham, 689th Rapid Port Opening Element, 832nd Transportation...... read more read more
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U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the 689th Rapid Port Opening Element, 832nd Transportation Battalion, 597th Transportation Brigade, from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, joined U.S. Air Force Airmen from the 821st Contingency Response Group from Travis Air Force Base, California, at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, September 7 – 14, 2018, to train and test their port opening capabilities in Exercise Turbo Distribution 18-02.
The 689th RPOE and 821st CRG are activated by the U.S. Transportation Command to provide humanitarian aid when natural disasters like earthquakes or hurricanes affect countries around the world.
During the exercise, the 821st CRG was responsible for assessing an airfield, then building and securing it to ensure the safety of aircraft and cargo.
The 689th RPOE inventoried cargo, loaded it on trucks and transported it to a forward cargo holding location 10 kilometers away.
“Our mission set is humanitarian aid and when working with the Air Force, we operate an Ariel Port Opening Debarkation,” said U.S. Army Capt. JaLyssa Walker, 689th RPOE incoming commander. “We would come into a country that needs humanitarian aid. The Air Force works with the [aircraft] that are coming in, and our unit takes the cargo that comes off, tracks it and ensures it makes it out to a forward node, then pushes the cargo out to the customers or camps who need it.”
The exercise challenged the Airmen and Soldiers who participated in the 24-hour operations, which included a C-130J Super Hercules dropping real-world cargo shipments and simulated aircraft dropping cargo every hour of the day. Along with constant shipments, the training attendees also faced simulated chemical attacks, enemy attacks, frequent alarms, and work mishaps like simulations of cargo boxes falling off a forklift and injuring a Soldier.
“At any given time, there is always a Joint Task Force-Port Opening capability on alert for the U.S. Transportation Command, 365 days a year, 7 days a week and 24 hours a day,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Justin Niederer, 821st Contingency Response Group commander. ”They have 12 hours once receiving the call to get ready, get on an aircraft and deploy anywhere in the world.”
The fast-paced mission of the 689th RPOE and 821st CRG requires Airmen and Soldiers who are proficient and confident in their career fields.
“It is a very rapid, fast moving, sometimes undefined requirement when you get out there and you don’t really know what you need until you get there,” said Neiderer. “That’s why it’s important to have skilled, experienced and mature Airmen and Soldiers that come together to seamlessly bridge the gap that exists in a location, so we can accomplish what the TRANSCOM commander ask of us.”
The Army’s RPOE units, once deployed, can establish a sea- or air- port anywhere in the world and ensure operations are maintained for up to 60 days until follow-on forces are able to arrive and take command.
| Date Taken: | 09.25.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 09.25.2018 14:25 |
| Story ID: | 294327 |
| Location: | WI, US |
| Web Views: | 68 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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