Busy Incirlik mobility control center draws AMC recognition

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Joseph Kapinos
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  It's just another day at the office for the men and women of the 728th Air Mobility Control Center.

Phones ring constantly, a stream of issues need addressing, a plane is landing and another one is ready to taxi. 

It is orchestrated chaos.

"We are the premier cargo hub in this area of responsibility," said Maj. Gary Goosen, the center's flight commander. "We have a tremendous impact on the warfighter down range."

The center, part of the 728th Air Mobility Squadron, moved more than 90,000 tons of cargo and more than 22,000 passengers in 5,800 missions in 2008. It transported nearly 50 percent of the Operation Iraqi Freedom sustainment air cargo, roughly 16 percent of what Air Mobility Command moves daily, said Major Goosen. 

The command named it the year's top air mobility control center in March. Tech. Sgt. Lataskie Newell, its training manager, accepted a trophy for the unit at a conference in San Antonio, Texas.
 
"This award is a justification of all the hard work accomplished by these young Airmen," said Lt. Col. Scott Morris, 728th AMS commander. "(They) are trusted with an incredible amount of responsibility and they get the job done each and every day." 

The unit's primary mission is the movement of cargo and personnel into Iraq and Afghanistan. Airmen handle maintenance issues, cargo loading and unloading, and the movement of passengers, coordinating with centers in southwest Asia and in the United States, as well as with two agencies that work side-by-side with them at Incirlik. 

In the small room that makes up the center, maintenance professionals staff a Maintenance Operations Center, while aerial port experts run the Air Terminal Operations Center. The three teams work with each other to get aircraft into the sky. 

Proper training is key to fulfilling the mission, but it also takes the right kind of person, said Master Sgt. Gary Beck, the center's superintendent. Many times it is a young Airman running the show, he said, citing the work done by Senior Amn. Linda Wald as an example. 

Airmen keep the commander informed of daily operations, talk to AMC and the Tanker Airlift Control Center, both at Scott AFB, Ill., coordinate distinguished visitor flights and handle all of the standard daily operations, said Sergeant Beck. 

"What this means is that we have a senior airman making big decisions, coordinating with leadership, sending messages through operational reports up to the four-star level," he said. "These guys are doing tremendous things, things way above their normal level of responsibility. We train and equip them, but they are the ones getting the job done."