What is a Logistics Management Specialist?

Well I'm not going to get fancy with a definition so I'll break it down for you in categories. It's not just offloading and uploading cargo onto aircraft as I touched on in my introduction article. A few other duties I do include checking out vehicles and equipment, teaching readiness classes, cargo preparation, documentation,passenger processing, and loading aircraft. If you haven't read my Introduction please do at: https://read.cash/@Coolmidwestguy/a-little-introduction-of-me-a4e0a53a

Checking out Vehicles and Equipment

Its not a hard task to do but very important one, why? Our success is very dependent on our vehicles and Equipment. If a piece of equipment or vehicle is inoperable it may lead to us being unable to complete our mission. What kind of vehicles and Equipment do we have? We have two 10 K forklifts, 1 10k All Terrain Forklift, 1 60K-loader, 2 25 K-loaders, baggage conveyer, passenger van, and a six passenger 4x4 truck. We usually check out are equipment every morning . With a good number of personnel this takes us about 30-45 minutes.

Teaching Readiness Classes

I am also a classroom teacher. We teach two classes to units that deploy cargo. I primarily teach a class about the movement of hazardous materials and how to certify them for military airlift. This class is usually anywhere from 4 to 8 hours depending on prior knowledge and class size. I will not bore you with the material because it is pretty dry. In order to teach it you have to be a hazardous materials preparer. The initial training for a preparer is a 8o hour class, oh I'm yawning. After that you have to be recertified every two years. The other class we teach is how to prepare cargo. The main focus in this class is how to build up a cargo pallets.

Cargo Preparation, Documentation, and Inspection

So anything that goes out airlift has to be processed. The process starts by weighing and measuring cargo. For pallets it's pretty easy just need a weight and height most of the time. For anything with wheels you also have to figure out the center of balance (CB) for the item. Once this process is done we use all the weights measurements, and CB to verify and correct any of the shipping paperwork. The next step is to review the rest of shipping paperwork which includes hazmat documentation. Special load instructions, and all others. All documentation and shipping paperwork than goes to the load planner The load planner uses all this information to sequence the cargo onto an aircraft load plan. When all cargo has been processed and all documentation is good it's time to inspect all cargo with the owning unit. Pass inspection good to go if not the unit has to correct failed items.

Passenger Processing

This process is basically ran the same way as a commercial airport. Passengers and thier baggage are screened. If it's a combined cargo and passenger mission the passengers are loaded onto the aircraft after the cargo is loaded. Passenger baggage is palletized. Passenger only missions we load thier baggage underneath in a baggage compartment if it's a civilian aircraft. It's rare to utilize military aircraft for just passenger movement.

Loading Aircraft

The aircraft is loaded according the load plan. Prior to arriving to the aircraft a load team is assembled. There is some planning done basically discussing who is doing what. Typically there is someone assigned to drive K-loader, chalk, and brief aircrew on load. A chalk is a wooden block with some rope attached to it. The chalker ensures the block is in front of tire to prevent the K-loader from hitting the aircraft. All cargo that is not palletized goes into the aircraft first. Equipment that is not palletized is usually loaded with an onboard aircraft winch. Once the cargo is in place it is either chained or strapped down.

Conclusion

I hope this gives you a better idea of what I do at my full time job. I left some details out for obvious reasons and also to keep it shorter. I'm also in charge of getting office supplies and maintaining our aircraft loading regulations. I love doing my job and it feels so rewarding knowing that this cargo has a purpose.

If one job isn't enough I have another as well. I drive part time delivering food and merchandise. This job is great because I get to choose when I want to work. The best part is I can stop working whenever I don't feel like it. Maybe I tell you more about it in another article. I promise it will be pretty short, haha.

Well time to wrap this article up. If you have any questions please ask . Is this something you would like to do? Maybe just watch? 🤣