Team Members from 9th AS contribute to Afghan delivery

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DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  Members from the 9th Airlift Squadron from Dover Air Force Base, Del., along with the Central Command Deployment & Distribution Operation Center and the Defense Logistics Agency worked together to validate a big shredding theory.

Lt. Col. Robert Butkovich, 9th Airlift Squadron commander, said that the aircrew on this mission validated that the loading procedures for the shedder met all operational requirements for safe and efficient transport. He said these shedders will help improve the speed and cost of the retrograde from Afghanistan.

"I'm very proud of the professionalism and skill that the 9th AS Airmen displayed moving this unique cargo load," said Butkovich. "The Airmen were excited to be a part of this cargo movement."

The Granutech Mobile Rotogrind Shredder assembly, Model 525HP, is used to shred everything from paper and electronics to body armor and ballistic glass in a matter of seconds.

"This is the first time we've moved this shredder on a C-5," said Ronald Fine, Louis Berger Services general manager. "This is a validation load and after this we will get back to Air Transportability Test Loading Activity with any updates for the certification letter."

The team loaded the 87,000-pound Granutech Shredder Model 525HP onto one of Dover AFB's C-5M Super Galaxies.

Moving one of the world's largest shredders required a total team effort.

"AMC provided the aircraft, the crew and the load team, the CENTCOM DDOC did all the coordinating with U.S. Transportation Command to get a mission and to get the aircraft here, DLA owns the equipment and the 47th transportation company provided the drivers and truck to get this thing on the aircraft," said Col. Michael Cannon, Defense Logistics Agency, support team commander.

The shredder is being moved to Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, to not only support the United States retrograde mission in Afghanistan, but to also return money to the U.S. Treasury.

"This is used to take assets that are no longer useable or assets that we want to demilitarize and shred them into an unusable condition," said Cannon. "The majority of the scrap is sold by the pound to a local vendor which helps the local economy, helps us clean up the camp that we are leaving and it can return money to the treasury by us recouping some of the money dollars per pound."

Airmen from the 9th Airlift Squadron were excited to be a part of this historic airlift event, but they realize it could not have been done without everyone's involvement.

"It's always an honor to take things out of the combat zone and back into the combat zone to help the warriors downrange," said Tech. Sgt Antonio Little, the mission's primary loadmaster. "This was not a one-man show. Everybody pitched in from the guys here on the ground to our loadmaster onboard, it was great team effort."