Hanscom helps other units deploy, gains experience

  • Published
  • By Sarah Olaciregui
  • 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  Thirty-six Airmen, with heavy back packs, pillows and things to keep them occupied, such as books, magazines or mp3 players gathered outside Building 1624 at the Installation Deployment Center early last Friday morning. They checked-in with Air Passenger Terminal representatives who weighed them with their baggage and prepared for flight.

People driving by may have mistaken them for any other Airmen on base, but these were a group of security forces personnel from Otis Air National Guard Base, Mass., preparing to fly out of Hanscom for pre-deployment training at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

As the only active duty installation in New England, Hanscom supports many military functions throughout the region, in addition to supporting geographically separated units (GSU) and tenants, but even this was slightly unusual.

"This is the first time anyone has flown out of Hanscom for an Air Expeditionary Force Conus Contingency Passenger, or CC Pax, mission," said Mr. Steve Morin, the installation deployment officer.

CC Pax missions are arranged to transport Airmen to training or to their port for departure to the area of responsibility (AOR) when a base or group has at least 40 passengers.

Although around 200 Hanscom personnel deploy each year, they usually depart and arrive one or two at a time, according to Mr. Morin. The largest group that leaves Hanscom at the same time is a unit type code of 13 security forces Airmen.

"We practice this scenario during crisis action contingency exercises," he said. "I'm glad we are finally able to put all the practice into use. It will give my guys a sense of accomplishment and shows the team that we don't do this just to prepare for Operational Readiness Inspections."

Mr. Morin said that he has two newly retrained logistics plans noncommissioned officers and a new civilian assistant installation deployment officer. Until now, deploying a large group of Airmen on military airlift has only been a textbook case to them, but this time they get to see what it's really like. Planning and managing large-scale deployments is a major part of their career field, so this experience is valuable upgrade training.

After boarding a large white bus and moving to the flight line, the Airmen watched as a gleaming Boeing 737, chartered by U.S. Transportation Command from Air Tran, landed on the runway and taxied to their location. One-by-one, the Airmen climbed the steps and entered the plane. Personnel from the 66th Logistical Readiness Squadron and Otis quickly loaded large amounts of baggage and equipment in the cargo areas, allowing the aircraft to depart ahead of schedule.

"This is the first time we have worked in conjunction with the 66th Air Base Group to deploy troops," said 1st Lt. Jenn O'Connell, the installation deployment officer from the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis.

Lieutenant O'Connell does much of the same work as Mr. Morin and worked closely with him to make sure the 36 Airmen could fly from Hanscom to Eglin.

"These Airmen will fly back to Hanscom near the end of July after their training, Brave Defender, is complete. We hope they can then fly back out of Hanscom in August on their way to the AOR," she said.

In August, these 36 Airmen and five others will deploy for six months. When they return early in 2011, they will most likely fly back to Hanscom.

"I hope we can serve as an aerial port of embarkation more and more," said Mr. Morin. "Not just for the other units we support throughout the region, but also for Electronic Systems Center personnel. It gives my employees lots of experience and presents a significant cost savings to the Air Force."

In the meantime, Mr. Morin and his team will keep practicing the deployment scenario during base exercises. When the opportunity presents itself again, they will be ready to support Hanscom or any other unit that may need assistance.