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 three-month continuing resolution that ended in December inflicted less pain on the Department of the Air Force than it had expected, as procurement and construction continue in the new year. The federal government operated under a stopgap spending measure that stretched from the beginning of the fiscal year on…