728th AMS helps TURAF aerial port soar

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman William A. O'Brien
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  Members of the 728th Air Mobility Squadron here hosted a tour of their aerial port for a group of 16 Turkish air force officers July 25.

Officers from the Ankara-based 11th Tanker Command came to Incirlik to get ideas on how to run their aerial port more efficiently by viewing how the aerial port here operates.

"For this visit, our purpose was to get some information on how you operate your terminals so we can use that information in reorganizing our terminal operations," said Maj. Hakan Canli, 11th Tanker Wing operations and training manager. "

The tour kicked off with a briefing in the 728th AMS conference room and was followed by a full-scale tour of the728th AMS Aerial Port facilities which included various demonstrations and hands on opportunities for the participants.

"We talked to them about our aerial port structure and how we utilize our manpower," said Capt. Christopher Jacobson, 728th AMS aerial port flight commander. "One of the things we emphasized was that our staff sergeants and our (technical) sergeants are the ones that mainly run our operations at our warehouse and operations level."

The briefing allowed everyone to get to know each other, and for 728th AMS Airmen to go over their operations and techniques and take questions from their counterpart to give them a thorough understanding of the mission before taking part in the tour.

"It was a very nice meeting," said Canli. "We had a briefing which we covered most of the information we were looking for (from the visit) and I hoping from the tour we will get even more."

The tour offered the Turkish officers a chance to gain knowledge about how the U.S. Air Force operates aerial ports and allowed 728th AMS members to get a better understanding of how the Turkish air force runs their operation as well.

"It was a big honor to host them as air transportation professionals," said Jacobson. "We take pride in our work because we're supporting the mission, so when they asked to come see how we work it was a huge honor for us."

Members of the 11th Tanker Command also plan to visit various aerial ports across Europe to gather diverse ideas. Given their close proximity to Incirlik, they have agreed the tour is the beginning of a lasting partnership between the 728th AMS and the 11th Tanker Command in an effort to improve aerial port operations.

"I am grateful for this opportunity and we appreciate you guys accepting our offer to visit here," said Canli.