Task Force Resolute Soldiers provide ‘Supply from the Sky’

Photo By Spc. Krista Payne | Spc. Clarissa Colunga, a Sling Team Detachment, 623rd Quartermaster Company, Special Troops Battalion, Task Force Resolute parachute rigger, gives a thumbs up to the pilot of a Canadian CH-47 Chinook to signify that the team is ready to begin sling loading the bird on Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, March 16.  

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, AFGHANISTAN

03.16.2011

Story by Spc. Krista Payne 

7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary)

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - Supplying the fight in Afghanistan can be a treacherous task for sustainment soldiers. The roads between forward operating bases are often littered with insurgents, improvised explosive devices and choke points. To reach some soldiers supplies must take to the skies.

The soldiers of the Sling Team Detachment, 623rd Quartermaster Company, Special Troops Battalion, Task Force Resolute, conduct sling load delivery operations at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan.

The “Supply from the Sky” detachment is comprised of 10 soldiers, all hailing from different companies and brigades throughout the Army including the 101st Sustainment Brigade and the 82nd Sustainment Brigade. Their mission is to gather, palletize and prepare supplies for pick up by helicopter. These supplies are delivered to FOBs as far as 600 miles away, said 1st Lt. Brian Grace, the detachment officer in charge.

“Our mission is to resupply maneuvering units in the Horn of Panjwa’I to establish a coalition presence in this normally Taliban occupied area,” said Grace.

The detachment prepares all types of supplies including construction equipment, food, water, ammunition, medical supplies, fuel, up-armored vehicles and barriers. The soldiers work with U.S., civilian and Canadian aviation groups to deliver their cargo, said Spc. Benny Gilmore, a transportation specialist with the 101st Sus. Bde. attached to the 623rd Sling Team Det.

Being a member of this team is not a mission that comes with set work hours or time constraints. The team must be ready on a moment’s notice and be able to deliver their supplies for pick-up within minutes.

“The sling team coordinates the pickup of the supplies, rigs them up, and then slings it out to them,” said Grace. “We are on call 24-hours a day. We can be called and ready to go in less than an hour’s notice of any emergency resupply mission.”

Sling loading presents certain safety and time advantages over typical road distribution or air drops using planes by utilizing direct supply to the base and avoiding open danger areas. These dangers are the reason sling load became a standard means of providing supplies, said Grace.

“With air drops, the receiving unit has to set aside an entire day and unit to recover the supplies at a designated drop zone that can be miles away from their base. This can be dangerous for the receiving unit because they are often ambushed when they recover the airdrops,” stated Grace. “Convoys put soldiers on the road and their lives at risk due to improvised explosive devices and ambushes. With sling load, it takes little planning on the receiving units end and delivers the supplies directly to the unit. Bottom line, sling load prevents casualties that often occur with these other means of delivery.”

For as long as they are at KAF, the “Supply from the Sky” detachment remains ready to safely provide supplies to any soldiers that need them, said Gilmore.

• Date Taken: 03.16.2011
• Date Posted: 03.21.2011 07:12
• Story ID: 67450
• Location: KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, AF