YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan --
Yokota’s airlift mission couldn’t function without its
wheels on the ground. Yokota has a variety of specialized vehicles in all
shapes and sizes, performing jobs from cleaning sewage lines to loading cargo
to putting out fires.
This article showcases four of Yokota’s high-tech,
hard-working vehicles: the 60k Tunner, the Striker 3,000, the 10k all-terrain
forklift and the Humvee.
60k Tunner
“Without K-loaders, there would be no airlift,” said Airman
1st Class John Thomas Dennis, 730th Air Mobility Squadron
air freight technician.
The 60k Tunner is Yokota’s largest K-loader, vehicles
designed to load and offload aircraft cargo. The 60k Tunners utilize hydraulics
to adjust the height of the loading platform, up to 18.5 feet, and can support
up to 60,000 pounds.
Dennis drives and operates all of the 730 AMS K-loader
models.
“It’s my favorite part of the job,” Dennis said. “Driving
the K-loaders is a lot of fun, especially when you lift it way up in the air to
drive up to a KC-10 aircraft.”
The cargo Dennis helps to transport mainly supports
permanent change of station moves but is also critical to a variety of other
missions, such as repairing deployed aircraft.
Striker 3,000
The Striker 3,000 is the newest addition to Yokota’s
firefighting arsenal. It is equipped with advanced, self-operating features and
adapted specifically to combat aircraft fires.
Unlike the 374th Civil Engineer Squadron fire
department’s older firetruck models, the Striker 3,000 can be operated by one
driver. It is equipped with a “snozzle,” a hull-piercing attachment that can
open an aircraft to aid in extinguishing a fire. The truck is twice the size of
previous models and has an improved boom-length which extends up to 75 feet
longer, giving it a maximum reach of 750 feet. The Striker 3,000 can disperse
three types of firefighting agents: water, foam and Purple K, a dry chemical,
and can hold up to 3,300 gallons of water.
“I love it,” said Airman 1st Class Thomas Smith,
374 CES driver operator. “It’s an awesome ability to know that you can
single-handedly put out a fire and possibly save someone’s life. That joy that
you see when we bring little kids in and they get to sit in the driver’s seat
is like what I experienced the first time I got to operate it.”
10k all-terrain
forklift
Forklifts are an essential part of Yokota operations and are
used in numerous places: on the flight line, on construction grounds, at drop
zones and more.
The 374 LRS uses 10ks for large cargo transport, loading and
unloading up to 10,000 pounds of aircraft parts, barrels and canisters at a
time for any number of uses across base.
“It’s extremely bouncy,” said Airman Jalen Johnson 374th
LRS vehicle operator and dispatcher. “You’re like a bobble head in there.
While the 10k’s bounciness may make it a challenge to drive
at times, its usefulness can be seen in the sheer number of them dispersed
throughout Yokota.
“It’s fun being able
to operate heavy machinery and pick up things that you wouldn’t be able to
otherwise,” Johnson added.
Humvee
High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle is abbreviated as
HMMWV, more commonly referred to as Humvee. Humvees are versatile, all-terrain vehicles
that can be outfitted as light utility vehicles or light armored cars. In 1979
the U.S. military developed them to replace several existing trucks with an
all-in-one light tactical vehicle.
According to Airman 1st Class Alexander Love
Gaunt, 374th Civil Engineer Squadron water and fuels systems
maintenance civil engineer, driving the Humvee around Yokota can attract a lot
of attention because it is such a symbol of the U.S. Military.
“People, military or not, stare in curiosity,” Love Gaunt
said.
Love Gaunt explained that the 374 CES uses the vehicle’s
power for hauling large equipment. Other squadrons, such as the 374 LRS,
use it to navigate rough terrain like remote drop zones.
CONCLUSION
The 374 Airlift Wing, with its role as the primary airlift
hub in the western Indo-Asia Pacific Region, has a diverse set of tasks to
ensure the mission is completed. Vehicles, of all shapes and sizes, assist in
making these tasks much easier and more efficient to accomplish.