AT RHEIN-MAIN, the airlift to Afghanistan honed the C-17 crews
into a more capable tactical force, with the skills to operate into
a combat zone using airfields with short, narrow and decaying
runways. These skills may prove useful should there be a conflict
with Iraq. While airfields being used in the military buildup are
rated "low risk" at the moment, that could change "in a heartbeat,"
so the airlift crews must guard against complacency.
The C-17 is a cross between a strategic airlifter designed for
transoceanic flights and a tactical airlifter that can operate into
austere airfields. Ideas on how to employ it are still evolving,
but the mindset of C-17 aircrews has changed during the past
year.
"We are really getting good at . . . thinking like C-130 guys,"
said Lt. Col. Creighton Cook, deputy for operations with the 817th
Expeditionary Airlift Sqdn. at Rhein-Main.
Some flights into Afghanistan have been fired on, and the airfields
there are still considered "medium" to "high risk" due to the
combination of high terrain, high threat levels, long duty days,
and the frequent use of night-vision goggles to make blackout
landings. Even the ground crews unloading the planes use NVGs.
Before Sept. 11, 2001, none of the aircrews assigned to the C-17
were qualified to fly approaches with NVGs; now all of the
active-duty crews from Charleston and McChord are trained, and the
reserves are in the process of being trained.
The 817th has perfected the C-17 tactics and procedures, including
a variety of altitudes, speeds and bank angles to defeat potential
threats. The squadron has also developed a robust intelligence
capability to keep crews informed about the latest threats. One
817th leader involved in tactics said, "We've all seen that these
guys hate us and want to kill us, so if you give them an easy
target you are setting yourself up. You can never eliminate [the
threat], but you can minimize it, and that is what we are trying to
do."
HEAVY LIFT AS WAR LOOMS Mar 10 issue AWST