Some 250 USAF aerial porters—about 100 are reservists—at Incirlik AB, Turkey, move an average of 60,000 pounds of cargo every day. Since June 1, say officials, the Total Force team has shifted about 87,000 tons into the Southwest Asia theater. The pace of operations at the base in Turkey picked up “significantly” when Rhein-Mein AB, Germany, shut down, says 1st Lt. Jim Burnham, 728th Air Mobility Squadron. He equates the effort since June to the “equivalent weight of 20,000 cars.”
A Michigan highway traded pickup trucks and minivans for A-10s and U-28s as members of the Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve, and Air Force Special Operations Command trained for agile combat employment. All told, five different kinds of fixed-wing aircraft landed on and took off from the 9,000-foot section…