Ellsworth AFB, SD -- Last week, Ellsworth deployed about 550 war fighters to various locations in the area of responsibility to continue the fight against the global war on terrorism.
Various media outlets, commanders, chiefs, first sergeants and, of course, families and friends were on scene to watch Ellsworth's warriors head out the door and go forward to conduct the nation's business.
But, the whole deployment process isn't automatic and it certainly isn't one deploying Airmen do by themselves.
Welcome to the inner-workings of Ellsworth's mobility machine.
Rick Schroeder, Ellsworth Installation Deployment Manager here, provided some insight on just what it takes to make the massive mobility engine rumble to life when Ellsworth receives the order to go forward and put combat capability in deployed commanders' hands.
"For just passenger movements, there are 16 mobility work centers that are working in the mobility machine," said Mr. Schroeder. "If both passengers and cargo are moving at the same time, there are 26 mobility machine work centers operating all at once."
2nd Lt Sarah Ortner, installation deployment officer, shed some light on just how many hours are involved with sending Ellsworth people and resources downrange.
"There are over 100 mobility machine workers operating each shift," she said. "That's over 200 personnel in a 24-hour period."
The amount of people and resources tasked to go forward does not begin to tell the story of what those huge numbers do to the continuing mission at home station. To many, it may seem the Air and Space Expeditionary Force Center doesn't fully grasp the strain this puts on the Airmen left behind to fill the gaps at home.
Mr. Schroeder, with his more than 30-years experience in sending people and equipment out the door said he believes the AEF Center does know how many Ellsworth troops they're tasking but, the center may not always be aware of pain that tasking may cause home-station missions.
He explained that the base leadership's responsibility is to communicate those concerns through the chain of command.
"And I believe that is happening," Mr. Schroeder explained. "I think the war-fighting commander realizes how difficult things can get back at home, but I also think we can understand his situation more if we realize the extremely difficult challenges that war fighter faces on a daily basis in the area of operations."
Another behind-the-scenes issue Mr. Schroeder and Lieutenant Ortner deal with is the short-notice or, sometimes, even the no-notice taskings Ellsworth Airmen face.
Short-notice or no-notice taskings are never going to go away," said Lieutenant Ortner.
She explained as the Air Force gets smaller in number, the number of people available to fill taskings decreases. Plus, other things such as judicial or non-judicial punishment, separations, retirements and other personnel-related issues can drive a short-notice tasking, she added.
Despite these variables, which force the modification of deployment plans, missions must still be fully manned to ensure success.
Mr. Schroeder said, for the behind-the-scenes professionals who send Airmen forward, the mighty mobility machine is constantly moving.
"There are lots of people behind the scenes working your deployment," he said. "Rest assured that our number one goal is always to make the deployment process easier, faster and better for the deployer."
For more information, visit the AEF Center Website at https://aefcenter.acc.af.mil.