08/22/2011: During the CRW visit, Second Line of Defense spoke with members of the CRW who operate the equipment for handling supplies and materials when forward deployed. Airman Ruiz initiated the discussion.
[slidepress gallery=’the-material-handling-equipment-for-crw-operations’]
Photo Credits: SLD 2011
Ruiz: Here are a couple of pieces of equipment that we use to transport loads to and from the aircraft, and around our yards. Basically, all the loads are on a pallet that’s right on top. And you can see our new generation small loader. The newest K-loader that we have is capable of carrying 25,000 pounds.It’s named after Mr. Albertson, who was the candy bomber during the Berlin Airlift.It can carry up to three of those pallets, either logistically or at ADS, basically there’s a short side and a long side to each one of those pallets.
SLD: The loader is designed to be air mobile and to then function to load or unload transport aircraft on location?
Ruiz: Yes, sir. They are used on location. It’s actually highly deployable as well; it only takes about 30 minutes to get this ready to put on an aircraft. So, in the CRW world, it actually works out very well.
SLD: And obviously, it goes fairly flat then?
Ruiz: They can go down to about 39 inches, and it can also be raised to about 220 inches. It also has a pitch and lift, so when we bring it up to a type of aircraft, if we’re unequal or unsteady by some weight, we can straighten it out.
SLD: So, you can bring it out of pretty much of anything that would fly?
Ruiz: Roger that, sir.
SLD: What fuel can the K-loader operate on?
Airman Baxter: JP86 diesel, and sometimes kerosene. All the newer style fuels as well. The vehicle will run off of anything you can find at an airfield.
SLD: You have explained the K-loader and we are now looking at fork lift, could you tell me something about this vehicle?
Ruiz: This is the 10K AT fork lift, and we usually just use one pallet, 10,000 pounds. No more than 10,000 pounds. It’s all-terrain vehicle, that’s what the AT stands for. It can pretty much go anywhere. I’ve had it in about six feet of water and mud, and it ran fine.
SLD: In water and mud?
Ruiz: Yes. In a swamp, trying to pick up some pallets that we dropped. This is the bread and butter of what we do, sir. This is pretty much one of our primary vehicles. We have bigger ones called 60Ks, up to 6,000 pounds, but they’re not as mobile as this is. Like I said, this only takes 30 minutes and we’ve got it on the plane. The 10K AT is how we move all of our cargo to and from after we get it off the aircraft; this is what moves everything around in the airfield