E
VERYTHING ABOUT JOINT Base
Charleston is vast. Whether
it’s the hectares of real estate
it occupies in South Carolina,
the number of tenant units,
the enormity of the ightlines,
the huge hangar space or the cavernous
hold of the C-17A Globemaster IIIs that
haul people and equipment out of here
every day, it’s big, impressive stu .
Charleston is home to the 437th
Airlift Wing, which boasts 48 C-17s and
comprises approximately 2,500 personnel.
The 437th Operations Group consists of
three operational ying squadrons: the
14th, 15th and 16th Airlift Squadrons
(there are also three Air Force Reserve
Command airlift squadrons, the 300th,
317th and 701st, which are part of the
base’s 315th Airlift Wing) and each of the
operational units maintains approximately
70 pilots and 70 loadmasters. The 437th
Maintenance Group is made up of the
437th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
( ightline), Maintenance Squadron
(backshop), Aerial Port Squadron (cargo
handling) and Maintenance Operations
Support (administrative, planning and
scheduling).
In the last available period of statistics
available, for May 2016-May 2017, the
wing ew 20,963 hours during 5,652
sorties. Its C-17s hauled 14,577 kilopounds
(klb) of cargo, while some 11,007klb of
weight fell from their open ramps.
24,971 airborne troops jumped from
those same ramps, and 16,283
passengers were transported.The wing undertook 271 humanitarian
sorties, though this skyrocketed after
the 2017 hurricanes, as well as some
50 aeromedical evacuation sorties. It
ew 2,457 combat hours during 603
combat sorties. While the numbers are
phenomenal, the amount of planning,
logistics and individual personnel involved
in making that happen is staggering.Charleston challenges
‘We are one of eight US Air Force C-17
bases’, Col Jimmy R. ‘Vegas’ Canlas, the
437th AW commander, told Combat
Aircraft. ‘We are the largest in terms of
number of airplanes and personnel
and also the busiest. We provide our air
force and combatant commanders with
rapid global mobility. We internalize this
through our mission statement: safe,
precise, reliable airlift worldwide. We pride
ourselves in being able to deliver that
anytime, any place. The 437th Airlift Wing’s
ability to execute rapid global mobility
provides national leaders the ability to
project hard and soft power at any time,
to any location on the globe, and sets the
US military apart from any other nation in
the world.
‘On top of executing daily missions
in support of airlift tasking across the
world, the 437th Airlift Wing also provides
short-notice response to national and
international disasters. Furthermore, we
serve as the only special operations C-17
unit and execute US embassy resupply
missions. Moreover, we are a major
supporter of the Denton Program wherehttp://www.combataircraft.net // April 2018 39
38-45 Charleston's global lifters C.indd 39 15/02/2018 12:48