DVIDS – News – JET / IA aviators continue their mission in Al Asad

Joint Expeditionary Tasked / Individual Augmentees, or simply known as JET / IA, consists of more than 450 Airmen and Guardians across 13 countries within the U.S. Central Command area of ​​responsibility who provide support to the operation Inherent Resolve across various career fields. Airmen from different bases and backgrounds come together to make sure the mission is accomplished.

One such group of five JET / IA Airmen, who would typically report to a conventional logistics readiness squadron, is headquartered at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq.
“We are primarily an emergency operations provider… we have three materiel managers and two [Traffic Management Office] staff, ”said Staff Sgt. Charles Willis, Superintendent of Special Operations Forces and Logistics Element. “We were tasked with supporting the AC-130W and providing them with all of their logistical needs… be it transport, air port, anything like that. ”

For a time, the AC-130W would operate in Iraq to provide tactical airlift to forces in the region. It was then relocated within the theater to continue supporting the CENTCOM mission. With its relocation, the JET / IA team had to change direction in the way they supported combat. They began to facilitate the reduction of parts for the aircraft at the base.

“We had over a thousand expelled shipments and had to consolidate and move over seven thousand items,” said Willis. “The team had to do the inventory – count, sort, process. Our TMO Airmen had to coordinate with Customs who came out to fill about four thousand refueling slots. “

The team was also able to recover around 62,000 pounds of brass, which would help the Air Force recover hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Two senior Airmen filling the Air Force’s top-level TMO billets led the way in ensuring that the three-year discrepancies were corrected before ending their deployment.

“When we first arrived here, the mission was very simple. We understood what we were responsible for – receiving and sending the cargo and supporting the combat helicopter mission, ”said Senior Airman Autumn Rivas, TMO Special Operations Forces Logistics Element, Inbound and Outbound Reception.

Once their combat helicopter support mission was over, the team had to quickly step up a gear to meet the new challenge of reducing its footprint in Al Asad.

“We’ve never experienced anything like this,” Rivas said. “So learning the different procedures was a great thing. We’ve come out of our comfort zone by doing jobs that aren’t necessarily in our job description, like building pallets and delivering parts, stuff like that.

The team not only overcame the challenges of working outside of their normal parameters, but also excelled in a high threat environment.

“You know all the attacks that are happening here, I would say like the other day, we had to stay up all night and work all day.” Rivas said when speaking of real world threats. “It wasn’t the easiest thing. We do what we need to do to get things done, work at different paces, and stagger things when they need to be staggered. “

While the odds might have been against a smaller team, Willis said his team had a victory.

“They were diligent, heavy hitters that came here working that they had to work with and were the driving force for a lot of things going in and out of this base, it was phenomenal to watch them work. You know, you wouldn’t have imagined there were only five of us with the amount of stuff we pushed here and there, but it was just a great experience overall, ”said Willis.