Deployed Altus Airman moves assets by sea

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Lindsey Maurice
  • 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  When it comes to moving U.S. Air Force assets, most people assume by air is the natural way to go. With thousands of aircraft in the Air Force's fleet, which includes hundreds of cargo planes, it may seem like the logical choice. But when it comes to oversized equipment, high costs and weight restrictions sometimes make transportation by sea vessel the sensible choice.

In the U.S. Air Forces Central Command area of responsibility, it is up to 1st Lt. Elise Jones and Staff Sgt. Joseph Jacovina, USAFCENT liaison officers, to coordinate sea-based shipments in and out of the AOR.

"Most people don't know we exist," said Lieutenant Jones, deployed from Altus Air Force Base, Okla. "Being in the Air Force, a lot of times we resort to shipping cargo by air, putting it on a jet and sending it where it needs to go, but along with high costs, we don't always have the capability to fly some of the oversized assets, so we have to ship it out through the sea."

With just over two and a half months spent in the AOR, the duo has been working around the clock to move more than 250 Air Force assets such as Humvees, mine resistant ambush protected vehicles, fire trucks, trailers and other oversized military equipment either further downrange or back to the United States for use by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service.

"Our job entails a lot of coordination and a lot of moving parts," said Sergeant Jacovina, deployed from Kadena Air Base, Japan. "The biggest challenge is the coordination part because there are so many different people we work with here and each person seems to do things a little differently."

The Air Force team uses an Army-based system to move surface cargo, coordinating each movement through Army, Navy and contract civilian personnel.

"Communication is really a challenge because we're not only communicating across the services, but also with third country nationals," said Lieutenant Jones, a Decatur, Ind. native. "In addition, we have to consider the host nation government when we move our cargo, taking into account things like how much cargo we move at one time, so there are a lot of different pieces and parts that have to come together for us to get the job done."

"I think that's probably the biggest challenge, but it's also the most rewarding when something does move because it finally all came together."

Sergeant Jacovina said that while the items his office is tasked with shipping are considered low priority, they move each piece of equipment with a sense of purpose.

"Whether it's going back to the states or further downrange, we try to get the equipment to the people waiting for it as fast as possible so they can utilize it," said the New York City native. "It feels pretty good helping other people who need these assets for the mission."

Both Sergeant Jacovina and Lieutenant Jones said the mission they are conducting here is very different from any job they've experienced before in the logistics career field, but has been a welcome challenge.

"As a logistics readiness officer, I have to be prepared to do just about everything," said the lieutenant. "At home station, I've been a vehicle flight commander, an aerial operations flight commander and an executive officer and then I come out here and I'm moving Air Force cargo in and out of seaports. This is definitely a very interesting aspect of logistics that as an officer I wouldn't get to see unless I was here. We do a lot of aerial port operations, but we don't do a lot of seaport movements, so I feel pretty honored that I was sent here because I get to see a different side of the Air Force and a different way of moving things and doing what we do every day through a different avenue."

With just three and a half months left in their deployment here, the team continues to be optimistic about its mission and the opportunity to move Air Force assets by other than service-traditional means.

"This is a great mission and I've had the opportunity to meet and work with some great people along the way," said Sergeant Jacovina. "This has definitely been a memorable experience with a lot of lessons learned."