460th LRS assists 140th in movement to Tyndall AFB

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Luke W. Nowakowski
  • 460th Space Wing Public Affairs
The 460th Logistics Readiness Squadron assisted the 140th Wing in their transport to Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, for an exercise March 18, 2015. Airmen from the 140th Wing headed to Tyndall AFB to support the 120th Fighter Squadron who are participating in an Air-to-Air Weapons Engagement Program.

"They took Airmen who specialize in maintenance, munitions and anything else they need to be self-sufficient (during the exercise)," said Andrew Mills, 460th LRS airlift operations supervisor.

The 140th Wing is nearly self-sufficient in their operations on Buckley AFB. As a large Air National Guard unit, they have almost all the pieces of a regular active duty unit, minus some critical career fields, which is where the 460th comes in to assist.

"The 140th does not have air transporters assigned to them, so the 460th provides that capability," said Maj. Samuel Aston, 460th LRS commander.

An air transporter is responsible for managing cargo and safely securing equipment loaded onto an airframe. They ensure that valuable Air Force assets are transported around the globe in a timely and safe manner.

"The 460th LRS air transporters provide cargo preparation and aircraft load training to 40 to 50 guardsmen annually," Aston said. "At execution, the trained 140th personnel prepare their cargo based on their training, after which the 460th inspects the preparation of the cargo for air worthiness, accurate documentation and overall safety of flight.  When the cargo is deemed ready, the aircraft load team is a joint endeavor between the 140th, 460th and the aircraft loadmaster."  

In this particular trip, the 460th and 140th worked to load 120th weapon systems, an F-16 Fighting Falcon engine and required tools, a bomb loader and other materials used to launch and retrieve sorties, stated Aston.

Coordination between the two wings is common place during movements like this one, which take place a handful of times each year.

"While the cohesive relationship between the two units is long-standing and robust, each movement offers another opportunity for the two units to improve our total force efforts here at Buckley," Aston said. "Every movement provides us an opportunity to ensure Team Buckley can meet combatant commander requirements within the prescribe timeline."