87th Aerial Port earns award Published Jan. 22, 2008 By Mary Allen 445th Airlift Wing WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio -- WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio -- The 87th Aerial Port Squadron, a squadron within the 445th Airlift Wing, has been chosen recently for the 4th Air Forces' Air Reserve Component Transportation Activity of the Year for 2007. Fourth Air Force will forward the 87 APS package to Air Force Reserve Command where the squadron will compete for the command award. The 445th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron was notified earlier this week of their earning the Air Force Reserve Command Outstanding Unit Award for 2007. The mission of the 87th APS during mobilization is to deploy trained Airmen to provide sustained support of airlift operations at fixed and/or non-fixed terminals. During this past year, reservists from the squadron deployed to Manas Air Base, Kyrgyzstan, from January to May 2007. The deployment was in direct support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Reservist moved 800 tons of cargo per day to support 1,316 Air Mobility Command missions and moved over 20,000 troops in the month of January alone. Later that year, the 87 APS deployed 150 members for Patriot Partner to takeover the port at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. Members processed over 3,478 passengers and moved 1,441 tons of cargo supporting 321 missions. Reservists were also involved in a humanitarian effort by assisting the U.S. Embassy delivering 22,000 lbs of humanitarian supplies donated by Slovakia to Kyrgyz children. The squadron also gathered clothing and sent six boxes to a Kyrgyz orphanage to improve the morale and help less fortunate children. Reservists also donated 8,682 cans of food during the Red Cross' canned food drive and donated a wheelchair to a cerebral palsy victim in Trinidad. "I'm please and very proud of our folks," said Chief Master Sgt. Robert Jamison, 87 APS superintendent of transportation. "It was a very busy year with the deployments coupled with a recent Operational Readiness Inspection that we were graded well on." The last time the 87 APS won the Air Force Reserve Command Aerial Port Unit of the Year award was in 1999.