Over 60 Million Pounds Of Cargo Delivered To Troops Around The
Country
Mobility Airmen supporting operations in Afghanistan airdropped
60.4 million pounds of cargo airdropped throughout the country,
setting a record.
USAF Photo
In all, the 60.4 million pounds is nearly twice the previous
record year of 2009, where just over 32.2 million pounds of cargo
was airdropped, Air Forces Central statistics show. Experts
attribute the increase to the surge of an additional 30,000 troops
to Afghanistan between December 2009 and August 2010. In those nine
months, AFCENT stats confirmed more than 40 million pounds of cargo
were airdropped.
Throughout Afghanistan, the mountainous areas, remote operating
locations and limited infrastructure have made the need for
airdrops a necessity. That necessity has grown with more troops on
the ground. According to a Jan. 12 Department of Defense news
report, "numbers of U.S. troops and civilians, allied trainers and
combat forces, Afghan army and police trainees all increased" in
Afghanistan by more than 100,000 in 2010, compared to previous
years.
Since 2006, the annual amount of airdrops has nearly doubled
each year. According to the AFCENT statistics released Jan. 19, the
amount of airdrop poundage in Afghanistan over the past five years
are 3.5 million in 2006, 8.12 million in 2007, 16.57 million in
2008, 32.26 million in 2009 and 60.4 million in 2010.
File Photo
"These airdrops are critical to sustaining ground forces at
austere locations where other means of re supply aren't feasible,"
said Col. David Almand, who served as director of the Combined Air
and Space Operations Center's Air Mobility Division in 2010. "This
continued sustainment of our warfighting forces is key to counter
insurgency operations, which require persistent presence and
logistics."
The mobility Airmen assigned to support those airdrops missions
have said they are proud to be able to directly support those
"boots on the ground" with the supplies they need, no matter where
in Afghanistan they are operating.
"It's very humbling to have such an impact on the war effort,"
said Staff Sgt. T.J. Grover, a C-130J loadmaster deployed with the
772nd Expeditionary Airlift Squadron. "Especially when you hear
about people on the ground who have close to nothing, and we make
their day if we even fly in something that's bare-minimum, but it's
still a step above what they had. These guys at forward operating
bases aren't getting stuff because they want it; they get it
because they need it."