Doing What They Do Best

The 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron is flying a “pure C-130 mission, … doing what we have been trained to do and what the aircraft was built for,” says SMSgt. Roy Self, a loadmaster with the Georgia Air National Guard’s 165th Airlift Wing. He was referring to the airdrops to coalition forces in isolated locations around Afghanistan. SMSgt. Kim Allain reports that the C-130 Hercules missions are a joint endeavor, with Army logisticians and rigging teams determining loads and rigging the bundle parachutes and USAF aircrews ascertaining whether the rigging is “precise and accurate” and loading the aircraft properly. One thing is for certain, says MSgt. Lance Peck with the New York Air Guard’s 109th AW, “Airdrop is the either the fastest or only way to re-supply troops with food, water, fuel, ammunition and equipment.”