By Mike Finney

DOVER — Air crews from Dover Air Force Base have made many historic flights around the globe for many years during wars, conflicts and relief missions.

However, none may have reached the level of intensity and unknowns that faced airmen from Dover than when Operation Allies Refuge in Afghanistan took place in mid-August.

Col. Matt Husemann, commander of the 436th Airlift Squadron at Dover AFB, said that logistics and readiness training were both vital in pulling off the largest noncombative civilian evacuation operation airlift by U.S. forces in history, in which C-17 Globemaster crew members from Dover were pressed into around-the-clock service.

When the final C-17 Globemaster III aircraft had finally returned to Dover, more than 124,000 evacuees had been airlifted out of Afghanistan.

“It gave us a lot of pride in what it is that we do, because knowing what goes behind the power of that aircraft is on the airmen that fix it, they load it, they supply it,” Col. Husemann said. “They are the medical experts behind every piece of human capital that gets on that airplane.

“So, it creates that proud moment of ‘There we are. That’s what we’re built to do. That’s what we’ve been working so hard to train for.’ To understand that we have that capability and to go out and do it.”

It was a common sight back in August to tune into the national news and see airplanes with the tail flash that proudly reads “Dover” landing and taking off with evacuees from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control of the country.

Some of the air crews actually learned as they went, with one actually loading up a C-17 with more than 800 passengers, seating them on the floor in the cargo hold.

“When we sit down and we think about how those missions happened, we learn how our training kicks in,” Col. Husemann said. “So, we learn that when we’re tired, how to continue to push through that. And when you see the smile on those kids’ faces and you hear the stories of the airmen that were on (the planes), whether they were loadmasters or Ravens (security forces) protecting the airplane, and you hear what they went through.

“They learned how to move through adversity. There’s adversity in going out and doing our mission and how we move through that adversity and get better at our jobs — that’s the important part to what we take from them back in August. I really appreciate how our airmen took their training.

“We’re willing to take a step forward. We’ve never done (an evacuation) this way before and you talk about seeing all the Afghans on the (cargo hold) floor and we’ve never done that before.”

Col. Husemann said much of Operation Allies Refuge was based on calculated risk — and logistics played a huge role in that.

“Do we know what will exactly happen? No. But we have calculated the risk and we’ve trained (the airmen) to do things similar,” the colonel said. “So, how do we take that and make sure that we’re able to take care of it as (efficiently as) we possibly can, do it smartly without jeopardizing the airplane and the crew and the people that are with us.

“And that training is what I think we’ll take out of this is how that that was a picture of how we have to train and then how we move that forward to get through that adversity on the front line.

“So, it was really cool to get to see and to be able to have that not just on national news, but for the airmen and their families to see what it is that they get to do, each and every day, and deliver hope around the globe.”

Col. Husemann stressed that it was young airmen who performed admirably under the harsh environment of Afghanistan.

He added that the fact that they were empowered to do their jobs through readiness training led to the mission’s success.

“The airmen that were operating those airplanes, none of them were colonels and generals or chiefs or senior master sergeants. They’re young airmen,” said Col. Husemann. “Maybe even an (Airman First Class) that was in charge of a Raven (airplane security) crew.

“That’s what’s important about making sure that they’re empowered to do their job, that they have the understanding that we’ve got their back. That trust in building that relationship is extremely important. And the way that we’re going to do that is through three priorities — and that’s to care. That’s readiness. And that’s innovation.”

Col. Husemann said that having airmen care about their jobs, their fellow crew members and their aircraft is the most important thing to having successful missions.

“Readiness is to focus on being able to do what we did in August, or doing whatever it is that our leaders expect us to go out and do to support our mission. Innovation is thinking through things in a different way. How do we become the innovative force of the future? And how do we leverage our diverse thought and include it all together?”

When it came to Operation Allies Refuge, the colonel said that logistics was key.

“It tells you how it’s important that logistics is a backbone to what the United States uses, whether we’re talking about that as diplomacy or military force,” Col. Husemann said. “Logistics helps that work out because we can deliver hope anywhere in the world on a moment’s notice, whenever we’re called upon.

“That event (Operation Allies Refuge) showcases the ability to use logistics to use the young airmen in a way that they’re ready and trained to be employed across the globe. And that they’re able to do that on just a moment’s notice to be able to get folks out of harm’s way and to be able to take care of them and deliver them back to the United States to give them the hope of living that American dream.”

Col. Husemann said that an image of a little girl evacuee skipping on the tarmac at an airport in Germany after she was flown away to freedom from Afghanistan tugged at many an airman’s heart — including his own.

“This was the front page of papers,” he said. “It was the understanding of how logistics came in to deliver hope. So, that pride of that’s what we did, that welled up in our hearts.

“And I’ll be honest, as we continue to reflect on that (Afghan evacuation), I don’t know that any of us fully grasp what it means to us yet. The images that are burned in our heads and how those great images of being able to see that young little girl (skipping) or the babies that were born … those things to take that freedom one step further.

“To be able to deliver what the United States delivers around the globe of hope is awesome.”