BAGRAM, Afghanistan – Six Soldiers from the 1109th Theater Aviation Sustainment Maintenance Group, an Army National Guard unit from Groton, Connecticut, are serving at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan to focus on the retrograde process of aviation parts.
Over the past two months, the Soldiers of the TASMG have been working on the continual movement of aviation equipment and materiel in theater to a destination in the United States. The equipment will be repaired and recapitalized in order to be redistributed to meet the needs of the Department of Defense.
Staff Sgt. William Leuck has been working as a retrograde noncommissioned officer for the operation for two months. He explained the process of the retrograde mission as turning in both large and small quantity items that are picked up from forward operating bases affiliated with Jalalabad Airfield in Afghanistan.
"By turning in large quantities of low-budget items we are able to help maintain multiple aircraft of the overall Army fleet. We are not focused on the dollar amount but more on the impact," said Leuck. Since December 2015, the TASMG has turned in and processed over $1.5 million of retrograde aviation equipment and parts.
The Soldiers have been focused on the retrograde mission in large part because of the closing of forward operating bases in Afghanistan.
As multiple units complete their missions and head back to the United States, they face challenges with the oversight of their aviation storage containers. These containers will often have millions of dollars worth of aviation repair parts in them and once the facility closes, there is no way for that unit to turn in those parts. It is the TASMG's main focus to turn in these parts in order for the government to process, inspect and document them. Material Management NCO Staff Sgt. Carmelo Gonzalez explained the goals the TASMG hopes to accomplish while completing their nine-month tour.
"This has been the largest retrograde mission for the TASMG…we've been supporting local aviation units with repairable parts that have been difficult to process in normal supply chains. Our goal is to make sure everyone who comes here is trained in the retrograde process. We've had a lot of cross-training with people from different military occupational specialties being trained as 92 Alphas (automated logistical specialist)," said Gonzalez.
The noncommissioned officer in charge of the operation, Sgt. 1st Class Keith Irving, explained how upon arriving in Bagram, the Soldiers assessed the work conditions to come up with a plan to readjust in order to have a more streamlined work process. "We've focused on making the process more efficient in order to process as many parts as possible while we are here," said Irving.
In addition to retrograde, the Soldiers have also focused on managing the day to day unit supply, as well as managing flights in and out of country, lodging, container hazmat, and safety training. The TASMG previously deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 in order to focus on aviation field maintenance, depot level aviation repairs, and to launch aircraft maintenance contact teams and test pilots abroad. The 1109th TASMG has been mobilized and deployed several times, notably in 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and in 2008 in support of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. This is their first deployment with a large emphasis on retrograde aviation turn-ins such as repairable maintenance equipment and subassemblies.