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TEAM BRIEF

ISSUE 17 DECEMBER 2014

DAYS OF YESTERYEAR !!!!!!!!

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CHAIRMAN NOTES WINTER 2014

As I start writing these notes I am still travelling across the globe, which reminds me of my days

spent in the back of Albert in my maggot, wondering where my next night stop will be? Gander,

Bardufoss, the Far East, Hong Kong, Kathmandu, Penang or even Marham, Wittering, or

Coltishall on a Taceval out load! All of which are fond memories of my time spent on MAMS. As I

look through the pages of past Team Briefs F540, like most of our readers it's the people and

characters we remember that were on the tasks with us, oh happy days. I have just, last week

been fortunate enough to again attend the Dubai Rugby 7s, where again like an annual

pilgrimage Ex Movers descend on the Gulf, and over a few beers watch some good rugby and

reminisce over their days as a Mover. Exchanging names and stories of the past, and saying

"Where are they now".

We as an Movements Association try to help keep this family both serving and ex-serving

members of the Movements world in contact with each other. One of the ways is this The Team

Brief, which gives all members a chance to read past and present happenings of the movement’s

world. Currently the Association has a membership of over 500, and long may it continue.

Events like the Meet & Greets, the Annual WO & SNCOs Top Table and the Officers Movements

Reunion still have good support. This past year we have managed two Association visits to 1

AMW and JADTEU at RAF Brize Norton, to give past members an idea how life as a Mover

continues now. My thanks goes out to all concerned that made those successful visits possible.

I end my notes with wishing all members a happy festive season, looking forward to seeing more

members in 2015.

Hope you enjoy this edition

Be safe

Warmest regards to you and your families.

Tony

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Membership Update

Total Membership is now 571

If you would like to join the Association then just complete the form that can be found on the

following page of the website

http://www.ukmams.co.uk/Membership

Contact detail updates……..

If you have moved or changed email address within the last 5 years then it is very probable that

the association has the incorrect contact details for you. To update send your Name, Address,

Tel No & Email address to:-

editor@ukmams.co.uk

Name the Ex Mover’s !!!

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First In; Still There. 1 Air Mobility Wing in Afghanistan

For 1 Air Mobility Wing (1 AMW), the Air Movements A4 Force Air Combat Support Unit based at RAF Brize Norton, the last day at Camp Bastion represented a key Milestone in 13 years of continuous operations in Afghanistan, including 7 years at Camp Bastion.

Operating as part of the Joint Movements Unit (JMU), under command of Sqn Ldr Tom Walker, Sgt Ben Howarth and his team were amongst the last people to depart Camp Bastion in the final scene of an episode on 1 AMW ’s history that saw over 50 aircraft, 3,400 vehicles and 4,550 twenty-foot equivalent units of materiel moved out of Afghanistan. During the penultimate week before Camp Bastion was handed over to the Afghan National Security Forces, JMU personnel redeployed over 300 tons of equipment in one 48 hour period, with the final few hours seeing the Unit successfully despatching 10 consecutive multi-national C130 lifts loaded with troops.

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However, the Redeployment effort still goes on as the focus of the Joint Movements Unit effort shifts to Kandahar where Flt Lt Sarah Jones and her 1 AMW team have been operating since September. Even then, as operations in Camp Bastion were coming to a conclusion, 1 AMW personnel were deploying to Afghanistan under the auspices of Op TORAL to begin the next chapter in the Wing’s involvement in the Country since 2001.

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OC 1 AMW, Wg Cdr Neil Jones, spoke with considerable pride at the achievements of his personnel during the last days at Camp Bastion:

“We have been training and preparing over the last 7 months to ensure that, when the final days of our involvement at both Bastion and Kandahar came we were prepared and able to deliver an this impressive output in such a short timescale. We have worked incredibly closely with all the squadron’s of the Air Mobility Force to ensure the final recovery form each of these locations has occurred as smoothly as possible. As one of the busiest A4 Force Air Combat Service Support Units this style of operation is well known to us, even if the scale is slightly different. We have gained a huge amount of experience from our continual involvement in this operation since 2001; using the lessons from the past will help guide our future capability. Yet, whilst this chapter on our history closes, we are already seeing a number of new chapters starting to be written. Regardless of where and when the next task arises, 1 AMW is ready.”

For 1 AMW, the completion of the redeployment of personnel, vehicles and materiel from Op HERRICK has been but one task, albeit part of the largest logistics effort in a generation, in a year that ends with the Wing’s personnel deployed as enablers for the UN effort against Ebola, RAF missions over Iraq and Nigeria and enduring operations in the Middle East. This is in addition to providing Movements support to RAF Air Mobility and chartered airlift deploying and recovering 40 Defence Exercise Programme tasks around the world per month. As 1 AMW ’s motto proudly states, they remain “Swift to Move” for further operations.

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Final episode of my Mobile saga

JOHN CONDUIT's UKMAMS TASKS 1994

Dates Route Aircraft Team

From To

11 Jan 94 16 Jan 94 Lyneham-Bergen-Trondheim

-Lyneham Herc Flt Lt Gannon, SAC Furzey

24 Jan 94 6 Feb 94 Lyneham-Bergen-Trondheim

-Lyneham Herc Flt Lt Gannon, SAC Furzey

15 Feb 94 15 Feb 94 Lyneham-Farnborough-Conningsby-Lyneham

Herc FS Buchanan, Cpl Dickson, Cpl

belcher, SAC Gibbons

18 Feb 94 18 Feb 94 Lyneham-Manston-Lyneham Herc, Road Cpl Roberts, SAC Walker

27 Feb 94 26 Mar 94 Lyneham-Adana-Akrotiri-bahrain-Dharan-Akrotiri-

Adana-Lyneham Herc FO Matthews, SAC Furzey

21 Apr 94 25 Apr 94 Lyneham-Akinci-Lyneham Herc Flt lt finding, Cpl Roberts, SAC’s

Fitches, Mariner, Fox

27 Apr 94 28 Apr 94 Lyneham-Dakar-Lyneham Herc Cpl Roberts, SAC Gibbons

1 May 94 1 May 94 Lyneham-Pisa-Lyneham Herc

7 May 94 7 May 94 Lyneham-Vaerlose-Lyneham Herc Cpl Roberts, SAC Gibbons

9 May 94 11 May 94 Lyneham-Prague-Lyneham Herc FO Tobin, FS Parkin, Sgt

Edwards, Cpl Roberts, Cpl Belcher

12 May 94 12 May 94 Lyneham-Marham-

Manchester-Lyneham Herc SAC’s Walker, Edwards

27 May 94 27 May 94 Lyneham-Yeovilton-

Lyneham Herc, Road

Flt Lt Burr, Cpl Belcher, SAC Overson +2

6 Jun 94 10 Jun 94

Lyneham-Gander-Winnipeg-Cold Lake-Tacoma-Cold

Lake-Ottawa-gander-Lyneham

Herc Cpl Shewin

15 Jun 94 20 Jun 94 Brize Riyadh-Dharan-Diego

Garcia-Dharan-Akrotiri-Adana-Palermo-Lyneham

VC10, Herc Cpl Belcher, SAC Stone

27 Jun 94 28 Jun 94 Brize-Gander-Calgary-

Gander-Brize VC10 SAC Wilson

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RAF MOVEMENTS ASSOCIATION VISIT TO 1 AMW BRIZE NORTON

By

Keith Parker

Our second Association visit to 1 Air Mobility Wing(AMW) took place on the 27th November and as we are coming to appreciate, it was another superb visit ,well organised and well executed. The theme for this visit was based on the new recruits training firstly at the school where WO "Ben" Bennett gave us an interesting overview of basic training and of particular interest as to how they are integrating with the other two services. We then had a quick look around the new hangar that has been requisitioned from the former 216 Sqn. and is now to be the new Imports Hangar. Also we were told about how the trainees are integrated as part of their ongoing training. Lastly we were treated to a look around the Mock Ups. Of special interest was the new A400M(we weren't allowed to see the real thing as it was u/s with engine problems, and also there was some guy called David Cameron visiting).

As you can see from the picture the mock up is as near dam it the real thing, at least our bit worked. All to soon our visit was over, and after a visit to the Sgts Mess for tea we were then invited to The End of Year Soiree, in which, we found quite a few faces that we knew from our former days and are now in the many and varied jobs that todays movers find themselves in. All in all it was a very interesting day and we must have been okay as the OC Wg Cdr Neil "Jonah" Jones has invited us back next year.

Enjoying the visit to the A400M mock up from left to right :- Kit Ayers, Mick Day, Keith Parker,

Frank Breithaupt, Jacky Brice, Brian Goswell and Colin Allen

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FROM THE 540

By Ian Berry

1970 – 45 YEARS AGO...

JANUARY

FIRESTREAK MISSILE – USED ON LIGHTNING & JAVELIN FIGHTERS

Marseilles – Special. Sgt Rocky Knowles plus 3. Offloading two spey engines in France for HMS

Eagle.

FEBRUARY

Punta Arenas – Special. Fg Off Paul Steiner plus 2. Delivery of a helicopter for the Royal Navy to

Chile on Belfast Task 6768.

Kinloss – Special. FSgt Don Wickham plus 5. Collection of flame floats from Kinloss for delivery

o RAF Ballykelly and RAF St Mawgan on Herc tasks 3871 & 72.

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MARCH

Andoya – Exercise Arctic Express. FSgt Roy Millington plus 4. Recovery of a Rotary Hydraulic

Arrester Gear (RHAG) and personnel of 39 Regt RE from Norway to Waterbeach.

West Raynham – Special. Fg Off Brian Shorter plus 4. Deployment of personnel and equipment

of 41 Sqn (Hunters) from UK to Cyprus.

APRIL

Changi – Exercise Bersatu Padu. Flt Lt Meikle, Fg Off Paul Steiner plus 16. Offload of personnel

and equipment of 19 Infantry Division and helicopters of 72 Sqn (Wessex) in

Singapore.

Exercise Bersatu Padu, Penerak, Malaysia 1970

Back Left to right: n/k, n/k, Ted Moore, n/k, Harry Manning, Boot Pratt, Jack Worrell, Tony Pyne, Dave ? (Admin), n/k, John Cooper, Mike Slade, Don Wickham, Roger Wood, Jerry

Frazer, Jim Stewart Front: Tug Wilson, Syd Avery, Dave Eggleton, Tony Barrell, n/k,Tim Pyne

Linton on Ouse – Special. Sgt Bob Husband plus 2. Relocation of an AR1 Radar Unit from

Yorkshire to Chivenor.

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JANUARY

Woomera – Exercise Falstaff. Fg Off Jeremy Hidden, FSgt Terry Hoy, Sgt Ian Berry, Cpls Lionel

Earnden & Steve Broadhurst, SAC Alan Webb. Deployment of test equipment to

Australia and recovery of Rapier test equipment to UK.

Coltishall – Flt Lt Jed Allan plus 5. Deployment of personnel and equipment of 6 Sqn (Jaguars) to

Norway using Belfast and Britannia aircraft .

FEBRUARY

Seeb – Special. Fg Off Ian Envis plus 2. Deployment of SOAF equipment from Seeb to Salalah.

Belize – Special. Flt Lt Charles Collier plus 5. Resupply of Belize garrison and recovery of Victor

Tanker detachment from the Azores to UK.

MARCH

Tromso – Exercise Busy Bee. Flt lt Simon plus 5. Recovery of harrier (MEXE) blast Pads from

Norway to UK.

HARRIER LANDING ON A MEXE PAD STRIP

Sangster – Special. Fg Off Don Fell, FSgt Terry Alfonso, Sgt Syd Avery, SAC Dinger Bell plus 2.

Recovery of 39 Sqn (Canberras) from Jamaica to Wyton.

APRIL

Leeuwarden – Squadron Exchange. Fg Off Don Hunter plus 6. Recovery of 306 Sqn RNLAF

(F104 Starfighters) from UK to Holland and 43 Sqn (Phantoms) from Holland to

Leuchars

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DUTCH AIR FORCE F104 STARFIGHTER

Bandar Abbas – Special. Flt Lt Barry Shevlin plus 5. Recovery of Defence Sales Team (Airwork

Services Ltd) from Iran to RNAS Yeovilton.

1980 – 35 YEARS AGO...

JANUARY

Corporal Angus T Cobb was awarded a Commendation by the AOC No 38 Group for his

fine service to the Squadron and in particular for his part in the Managua incident last

July. An attempt was made to board the Hercules by members of the Nicaraguan National

Guard who were trying to flee the country. Cpl AT Cobb of the Sqn joined with other

members of the aircraft crew to prevent the hi-jack attempt.

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NO TASKING INFORMATION AVAULABLE FROM THE 540...

FEBRUARY

Wattisham – Exercise Fork Barge/Flush Beam. FSgt Stu Everitt plus 2. Rotation of 23 & 56 Sqn

(Phantoms) between UK and Cyprus.

Fort Campbell – Exercise Trumpet Dance. Flt Lt Bateman plus 2. Deployment of UKLF Infantry

Battle Group from UK to Kentucky.

MARCH

Nanyuki – Special. Flt Lt Ian Drake plus 5. Tactical Air Transport assistance to the Kenyan Air

Force to move a Marconi Air Defence Radar.

Tromso – Exercise Anorak Express. Flt Lt Bateman plus 7. Recovery of 1 Sqn (Harriers) from

Norway to Wittering.

APRIL

Salisbury – Operation Agila. Flt Lt Fulker plus 1. Zimbabwe Independence Ceremonies – Royal &

VIP Flight handling; HRH The Prince of Wales, Lord Carrington and Lord Soames.

SALISBURY, RHODESIA – UKMAMS DET

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Coltishall – Exercise Catherine Wheel. Flt Lt Peter Burch plus 8. Deployment of 41 Sqn (Jaguars)

from UK to Bardufoss.

1985 – 30 YEARS AGO...

JANUARY

Karachi – Special. FSgt Brian Clarke plus 2. Deployment of Royal Navy engineering team to

Pakistan to carry out an engine change on the frigate HMS Nottingham.

Muscat – Exercise Rocky Lance. Cpl Brian Harper plus 2. Deployment of 1 Bn Scots Guards

from UK to Muscat.

FEBRUARY

Offutt – Exercise Red/Green Flag. Fg Off Green plus 2. Recovery of 57 Sqn (Victors) from USA

to Marham.

Seattle – Exercise Trumpet Dance. Fg Off Simon Baxter plus 2. Deployment of 1 Bn Royal

Anglians from UK to USA.

MARCH

Nellis AFB – Exercise Green Flag. Wg Cdr Rob Dixon plus 5. Recovery of 9 Sqn (Tornadoes)

from USA to Goose Bay and Honington.

Coltishall – Wintex. Fg Off Steve Heaton plus 11. Recovery of 41 Sqn (Jaguars) from Bardufoss

to UK.

JAGUAR IN WINTER CAMOUFLAGE

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APRIL

Cold Lake – Exercise Prairie Vortex/Maple Flag. Fg Off Andy Kime plus 4. Deployment of 15 &

16 Sqns (Tornados) from UK to Canada.

McChord AFB – Exercise Trumpet Dance. Fg Off Chris Goss plus 2. Recovery of 1 Bn Staffords

from USA to UK.

1990 – 25 YEARS AGO...

JANUARY

Gibraltar – Armilla. Deployment of 208 Sqn (Buccaneers) from Lossiemouth to Gibraltar.

Leeming – Exercise Toucan Blade. Deployment of 51 Sqn RAF Regt from UK to Belize.

FEBRUARY

NO USEFUL INFORMATION CAN BE GLEANED FROM THE 540...

MARCH

Kuantan – IADS 90. Deployment of TCW to Malaya.

Eilson – Spec. Recovery of ITDV from Alaska to UK.

APRIL

Cherry Point – Special. Deployment of RM Shooting Team to USMC Base Cherry Point.

Australia – Unit Exchange. Deployment of Blues & Royals to Australia and recovery of Australian

2nd Cavalry to UK.

CAP BADGE OF 2ND AUSTRALIAN CAVALRY

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1995 – 20 YEARS AGO...

JANUARY

Rzeszow – Exercise Brazen Hussar. FSgt Yogi Rowlands plus 2. Deployment of UK Army units

to Poland.

Eilson – Special. FSgt Al Salisbury plus 2. Deployment of SA80 evaluation team to Alaska for

cold weather trials.

FEBRUARY

Belize – Operation Native Trail. Flt Lt Maggie Streeter plus 2. Deployment of elements of UKLF to

Belize.

McDill AFB – Exercise Cobb Ring. Sgt Dave Salmon plus 3. Recovery of 30 Sigs Regt from USA

to UK.

MARCH

Amman – Exercise Saffron Sands. Fg Off McLean plus 2. Resupply of Army Units on exercise in

Jordan.

Sigonella – Operation Sharp Guard. Sgt Derek Grayson plus 2. Resupply of Nimrod detachment

in Sicily.

APRIL

Akinci – Exercise Distant Thunder. Fg Off Lee Matthews, WO Ian Berry plus 4. Recovery of 9

Sqn (Tornados) from Turkey to Bruggen.

Sidi Slimane – Exercise Atlas Dawn. Fg Off Ewan Mackenzie plus 4. Deployment of 617 Sqn

(Tornados) from Lossiemouth to Morocco.

2000 – 15 YEARS AGO...

JANUARY

Nellis AFB – Exercise Red Flag. FSgt Taff Isaac, Sgt Cosgrove, Cpls Wallace & Paul Crake,

SACs Mufford & Hartley. Positioning of 11, 14 & 617 Sqn (Tornados) in Nevada.

Bucharest – Exercise Eastern Climb. Flt Lt Clulo, FSgt Jim Buchanan, Cpl Kev Skinner, SACs

Caven, Matt Rayner & Whittingham

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FEBRUARY

Bardufoss – Exercise Snow Falcon. Sqn Ldr Rich Fogden, Flt Lt Atkinson, FSgt Tony Geerah &

SAC Davies. Deployment of 1 Sqn (Harriers) to Norway.

Salalah – Exercise Magic Carpet. FSgt Neil Baldock, Cpl Heath, SACs Mufford & Poat. Recovery

of 101 Sqn (VC10 Tanker), 54 Sqn (Jaguars) & 4 Sqn (Harriers) from Oman to UK.

MARCH

Hoedspruit AB – Operation Barwood. Flt Lt Stoneley, Sgt Adam, SACs Booth & King.

Deployment of 33 Sqn (Pumas) to South Africa for flood relief operations in

Mozambique

Tonopah – Exercise High Rider. Sgt Taff Kelly, SACs Booth, King & Sansome. Deployment of

Tornado OEU to Nevada for trials.

APRIL

Cape Canaveral – Exercise Create Havoc. Sgt Dodds, Cpls Butcher, Steff O’Donnell &

Parkinson. Delivery of Stingray Torpedoes and DERA freight to Florida for

AUTEC trials.

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STINGRAY TORPEDO IN HANDLING

Brunei/Fiji – Exercise Pacific Kukri. Sgt Thompson, Cpls Steff O’Donnell & Nixon, SAC

Stubbs. Deployment of 2 RGR from Brunei to Fiji and recovery of 22 SAS Brunei to

UK.

2006 – 10 YEARS AGO...

JANUARY

Curacao – Operation Harmala. FSgt Steve Burke, Cpl Woods & SAC Duffy. Deployment of 120 Sqn (Nimrods) from UK to Dutch Antilles. Siauliai – Operation Solstice. Flt Lt Simon Oliver, Sqn Ldr Neil Jones, Cpl Otterwell & SAC Baker. Deployment of personnel of XV Sqn (Tornados) from UK to Lichtenstein. FEBRUARY Dushanbe – EAC VC10. Flt Lt Wheatley, SACs Warren & Travers. Rotation of Belgian Military personnel between Tajikstan and Belgium. Cayenne – Special. FSgt Ian Rowlands, Cpl Alistair Cheesewright & SAC Ainley. Recovery of French Air Force radar unit from Guyana to Frescaty in France.

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MARCH Hyderabad – Exercise Emerald Mercury. FSgt Mal Rochester, SACs O’Brien & McLoughlin (Both 4624 Sqn RAuxAF). Recovery of personnel of 30 Sigs Regt from India to UK. Pristina – Operation Calicle. Flt Lt Clark, Sgt Campbell, Cpl Henderson, Sacs Collins, Prewett, Chandler & Anderson. Recovery of Royal Ghurka regiment and Spearhead equipment from Kosovo to UK. APRIL Freetown – Exercise Devils Topper. Sgt Hughes, Cpl Paul Douse & SAC Hendy. Deployment of pax and vehicles of 14 Sig Regt from UK to Sierra Leone. Mountain Home AFB – Exercise Red Flag/Mountain Vortex. Flt lt Wheatley, Cpl Cheesewright, SACs Buckingham & Smith. Recovery of 2 & 13 Sqn (Tornados) from Idaho to UK.

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The Following articles are SITREPS to the 1 AMW in Afghanistan article

Final 1 AMW SITREP from Camp Bastion – 29th October 2014

Flt Cdr’s Comments – Flt Lt Sarah Jones

The last two weeks saw the last of the A Flt personnel completing the Operation CATALINA runs from Minhad and returning back to the UK. A Flt personnel redeployed to both Kandahar and UK respectively in accordance with the closure plan with four members of the flight remaining in Bastion until the end of fixed wing assets into Bastion. A Flt personnel at Kandahar were split into three Tactical teams flying route into Bastion daily to reduce the footprint in Bastion whilst still supporting the movements effort on the ground.

The closure of Bastion was an intense period of activity, with limited communications, flexibility and trust in the right decisions being made were key points, at the time with the situation consistently changing. The team at Bastion worked incredibly well to enable all personnel and equipment were redeployed and arrived in Kandahar tired and in good spirits having achieved the mission plan displaying the professionalism expected of a deployed movements team. A team also deployed to Dwyer in order to recover the Joint Air Group(JAG) assets that were put in place to enable all the Force Protection for the extraction from Bastion, another piece that despite some last hours of evolving change and resources went without any problems and the entire JAG Det was recovered in good order which is certainly a first in Theatre.

Flight personnel have now started to return as they are released by Joint Movements Unit (JMU) Kandahar in accordance with the remaining mission for the withdrawal of Kandahar and support that is needed for that. As always there are lessons to identify and tune for future deployments of any mobile flight personnel. That said the mission has been achieved and A Flight have made a significant contribution, experience has been gained and the reputation of 1 AMW has been upheld building on those that have deployed before us and what has been a significant piece of movements work in the support of the UK mission in Afghanistan.

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I am incredibly proud of the personnel from the flight that I have watched grow I experience, work together and notably kept a good level of morale during the degradation of life support and gained a large amount of respect amongst the senior commanders on the way they conducted our business.

In addition, Kandahar JMU proved itself more than capable to handling the Operation FLATOUT serials on WHISKEY and SIERRA ramps whilst simultaneously providing concurrent support to the C-17 which landed throughout. All personnel involved with this Op have received praise from Regional Command (South West) (RC(SW), Officer Commanding 904 Expeditionary Air Wing and Tactical Air Transport Detachment Commander.

Everyone pulled together to ensure they could assist with the withdrawal and see the last of their Bastion counterparts arrive safe and tired into Kandahar

SAMO’s Comments – Sqn Ldr Tom Walker

The closure of Camp Bastion and the final tactical withdrawal of troops from RC(SW) could not have been achieved were it not for the hard work and outstanding tactical-level planning delivered on the part of pers from 1 AMW and their counterparts within the JMU. Not only was a team, led by Flt Lt Kev Cole, forward deployed to Forward Operating Base Dwyer (to enable the recovery of the JAG covering force); but every aircraft carried a MAMS team and was received by an airhead clearance team from 1 AMW. I cannot speak highly enough of the value of Sgt Ben Howarth’s team, working closely with coalition partners in the form of the US Marine Corps and exceeding their tempo at every turn of the handle. I must also mention Flt Lt Sarah Jones and WO Neil Baldock, who worked long hours on Sierra Ramp, to receive and account for personnel and freight coming off the ground in Troops in Fighting Trim. The guys have been outstanding and I plan to write (by separate cover) to OC 1 AMW and OC MAMS to highlight those pers whose efforts were especially notable.

Self-praise aside, this was always going to be a game of 2 halves and it would be remiss of me to ignore the fact that we have still 169 Vehicles and Major Equipment and 202 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units of materiel yet to move from Kandahar. Airlift and capability draw-down still need to be managed and the force footprint planned though to K-Day; notwithstanding any potential strategic shocks in the offing. We have carried much of the momentum from the Bastion closure through to Kandahar; keeping the focus for the next 25 days will remain a significant challenge as the JMU is drawn-down permanently. Plans to shape and set the Theatre movements executive are already in-hand now and I expect to be able to back-brief the UK on planned closure in the next 5-7 days.

Final 1 AMW SITREP from Kandahar – 11th November 2014

Flt Cdr’s Comments – Flt Lt Sarah Jones

The original intention to retain 4 A Flt pers was replaced with them all staying to ensure the pack up of 904 EAW moved swiftly which would result in all A Flt leaving slightly later than their original dates, however, earlier than if only 4 people were left to assist. This proposal was put forward by the Flt to prevent 4 unwilling volunteers being left behind. The show of the Flt standing by each other is evidence of a team who want to see this task out together.

The C-130 fleet and engineers have drawn-down at a rapid rate, which has freed up both office and pan space in readiness for the planned relocation of 904 EAW and Joint Force Support (Afghanistan) to Whiskey Ramp this weekend.

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SAMO’s Comments – Sqn Ldr Tom Walker

It is fair to say that, this week, we have truly crossed the Rubicon, in terms of Redeployment effort. Firstly, following the departure of our final C130, no Royal Air Force aircraft remain stationed in Southern Afghanistan. The JAG has redeployed in total and all that remains is for the last of their equipment to be loaded to aircraft over the next 48-hrs. Following a period of intense airlift over the weekend, I am confident that the remaining Theatre freight can be re-planned and a revised assessment made on the planned UK cease-ops date. Central to this, of course, was the decision to retain 12 personnel from A Flt to ease the burden on our cargo operations by building the JAG and TORDET deployed inventories. Those individuals recover to the UK tonight, 24-hrs later than planned (although they have delivered an extra 72-hrs worth of effort).

The next 10 days will see the final elements of remaining freight and VaME redeployed, I expect the rate of effort to be steady; but the climax has passed. This will be the final SITREP on which I will be invited to comment, as I redeploy myself within the next 48-hours; potentially the last HERRICK SITREP as expeditionary communications may no longer be in place next week. I will direct Flt Lt Jones to send a final signal to 1 AMW once her people are safely off the ground and on their way home.

It is with some poignancy that I conclude, then; it has been nothing short of an honour and a privilege to command at this time and to see out my final months as a commander with such an enthusiastic group of Airmen, NCOs and Officers as those that exist on 1 AMW. We could not have done it without them, and to them goes the honour (of that old adage) of being,

‘First In – Last Out’

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If anyone has any items that they would like to add to

the next issue of the team brief then please email it to

me at the following address

editor@ukmams.co.uk

That’s it for this edition

I hope that Santa brings you all what you have wished for.

Have a merry Christmas &

a Great New Year

John