Air Forces Africa shares airdrop expertise with Ugandan Forces

  • Published
  • By Maj. Paula Kurtz
  • 17th Air Force Public Affairs
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany --  Today's scenario: Heavy rains have caused the Nile River to overflow its banks and flood a village in central Uganda, cutting off citizens from food and medical supplies.
The mission: To plan and execute a humanitarian airdrop mission of relief supplies for the village.
 
Theater Security Cooperation is one of those broad, strategic terms that, in practice, can have many definitions and interpretations.
 
For U.S. Air Forces Africa, the air component under U.S. Africa Command, it is the crux of the daily mission as the unit plans engagement events with partner nations around the continent to forge relationships, share knowledge and build capacity.
 
At this operational level, TSC includes events such as senior leader engagements, exercises, conferences, and military-to-military familiarization. While planners at U.S. Air Forces Africa, also known as Seventeenth Air Force, work daily to arrange these engagement events, it is units such as the 37th Airlift Squadron that ensure the planning bears fruit at the tactical level.
 
"We don't have assigned forces that we can draw from to execute these events," explained Col. Don Kochanski, Director of Plans and Engagements for U.S. Air Forces Africa. "Once we have a basic plan in place, we have to request for forces through the Air Staff to find those Airmen who will travel to the continent to make it happen. In many cases, their TSC mission will also involve fact finding to help us get the 'ground truth' and gain a better idea of the partner nation's current capabilities so we can build better engagement plans in the future."
 
Eighteen Airmen from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and two Army Reserve soldiers from Nashville, Tenn., travelled to Uganda Aug. 24-30 to execute just such a mission. Their task: to show members of the Uganda Peoples' Defence Force how to prepare cargo, mission plan and execute a humanitarian airdrop. The event included classroom discussion, hands-on familiarization, and a live C-130 airdrop mission.
 
"This course has come at a right time, when we need it most," said Col. Kaija Ham, commander, Entebbe Air Base, Uganda during a ceremony marking the start of the 3-day event. "Have your mind focused; it will be a fast course," he told the 25 UPDF members in attendance. "Have a broad mind, ask questions, and grasp what they are going to give you today."
 
The ultimate goal of the UPDF is to build capacity to airdrop goods and equipment from their L-100 aircraft, which is the civilian equivalent of the military C-130. The familiarization event builds on previous training the Ugandan forces received under Phase I of the African Deployment Assistance Phase Training (ADAPT) program. For three weeks in July, logisticians and paratroopers in the UPDF learned how to palletize cargo, conduct weight and balance measurements, inspect hazardous cargo, work with customs officials and approve packed goods for airdrop.
 
"Their knowledge base is excellent, and they have asked good questions," said Capt. Kevin Graham, 37th Airlift Squadron pilot and deputy mission commander for the visit. "We want to show them what an airlift mission looks like in practice...all of the moving parts and coordination that goes into one mission." 

To do that, the mission's team included pilots, navigators, flight engineers, loadmasters, aircraft maintenance members, a site-survey leader to identify and set up the drop zone and two Army staff sergeants from the 861st Quartermaster Company, Nashville Army Reserve, who are experts at "rigging" the parachutes that will ensure safe delivery of the humanitarian supplies. 

Day one centered on classroom discussion of load planning followed by a walk-thru tour of the C-130 aircraft, from cargo bay to flight deck. Day two began with a hands-on session in palletizing cargo, followed by the first of two live airdrop missions from the C-130 over a drop zone 110 kilometers away. For many of the Ugandan forces, the observation of the airdrop was their first ever flight on an airplane. As the cargo bay door opened in-flight in preparation for the drop, the Ugandan forces stood from the "jump seats" lining the sides and center aisle of the aircraft, and leaned forward to see the landscape 800 feet below.
 
"You have teamwork and everyone is respected in their area," observed Private Joseph Wabwire, a lubricants specialist in the Uganda Peoples Defence Air Force who enjoyed his first-time flight observing the airdrop. "Everybody does his part and in the end, the product is good." 

To accomplish the mission, members of the 37th AS brought with them the wooden pallets, water barrels, honeycomb padding, and cargo straps needed for the live drop, as the Ugandan forces lack these basic materials. As thankful as he is for the learning opportunity, Maj. George Nambafu said more help is needed to help the UPDF meet its goal. 

"As much as you give us knowledge, what we really need is equipment," he explained. "Even used equipment would be welcome. When you go and take these materials with you, we will have nothing to practice on. Knowledge without practice is not productive," he said. 

In addition to providing a first experience for many of the Ugandan members, the TSC event was a first for several of the U.S. military members. SSgt. Matt LaFever, a loadmaster with the 37th AS, volunteered for the mission, looking at it as a good opportunity to interact with other forces and do something different from traditional airlift.
"We didn't have many details on the front end, so I thought we would just be doing a couple of airdrops," Sergeant LaFever said. "We went more in-depth than I expected with the familiarization. They were very receptive and just soaked up the information like a sponge." 

This familiarization event will be followed by Phase II ADAPT training scheduled for later this year.