With two weeks’ notice, U.S. Army Africa G4 Mobility Operations Division Surface Branch alongside U.S. Air Force personnel from the 48th Fighter Wing, stationed at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, executed a crucial cargo movement, transporting seven trucks on a ferry for African Lion, the Marine Corps’ largest exercise in Africa on March 28, 2018, from Algeciras, Spain, to Ben Guerir, Morocco.
“We were able to step in and complete the mission in a restricted time line with minimal issues and accomplished the operation at a cheaper cost,” said Kory Buckhout, the USARAF G4 MOD surface branch chief. “We hit all of the points of what makes a mission successful and efficient. We are effective in getting the job done, and also very efficient in terms of our execution and cost savings capability.”
The USARAF G4 was asked to assist with moving the equipment when prior logistics plans fell through. Leaving only two weeks’ time for mission accomplishment, the G4 began working on all of the logistics for movement. The movement of equipment, which took place in Algeciras, was led by CW3 Juanita Maximin, the USARAF G4 MOD surface branch mobility warrant officer.
In the last year, the G4 mobility surface branch members have developed a new tender program that was implemented throughout Africa and has enabled them to work directly with logistics companies in an effort to streamline logistical support. This has enabled the USARAF G4 to provide transportation solutions, which have reduced costs by as much as 30-40 percent and decreased requesting timelines for support from 30 days to less than one week.
“Being able to meet the suspense of this kind of movement is incredibly rewarding,” said Maximin. “For two reasons: one, because this is our first ferry movement between two continents and two, without solutions like this the mission would fail.”
USARAF G4 MOD surface branch finalized the exercise with the redeployment of all 31 vehicles used in the exercise. The additional 24 vehicles moved by air shipment were tasked through the G4 MOD to bring them home by ferry. G4 MOD assisted in the trans-loading to United Kingdom contracted trucks for onward movement back to RAF Lakenheath. This is the largest movement the USARAF G4 MOD surface branch has completed to date.
“Using our tender program saved the exercise two million in cost versus other logistical solutions,” Buckhout said.
