An event in the Middle East is escalating tensions again… the President of the United States just announced an overseas trip for tomorrow… an earthquake in Africa is going to require immediate life-saving humanitarian aid…
When events like these take place, among the first phones to ring are those of the 6th Airlift Squadron (6th AS) at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
The 6th AS is critical in helping execute the U.S. Air Force’s national strategic imperative that its people and planes be ready to deploy the nation’s military personnel and equipment anywhere in the world within hours and sustain these forces as long as necessary.
“We move anything our government needs us to move,” said Lt. Colonel Matthew Eggert, commanding officer of the 6th AS and a 17-year veteran of the Air Force. “I would say probably everyone in this unit is more attuned to what is happening around the world. You see something happen and you ask, “is this going to affect us?”
The answer is most often yes.
“If there is anything in the news that involves the U.S. government, there is probably a C-17 supporting it,” said Eggert. “The speed of warfare today is such that if there is a major conflict, sea and surface transportation will be too slow.
“I like to say that when the Joint Force picks up the phone and dials 9-1-1, the C17 answers the phone.”
The C-17 to which Eggert refers is the C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft.
About to enter its fourth decade of service, this massive beast stands 55 feet high – the equivalent of a four or five story building.
It is 174 feet long – to put that length in perspective- the historic first flight by the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk in 1903 covered 120 feet.
Its wingspan is 170 feet, and its maximum takeoff weight is 585,000 pounds.
The Globemaster can quickly move personnel and cargo ranging from a 70-ton Abrams tank and other armored vehicles of war to life-saving medical equipment and humanitarian aid.
The men and women of the 6th AS are situated at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst as part of the 305th Air Mobility Wing.
Their mission is to train and prepare C-17 crews, then plan and execute actions that transport personnel and equipment wherever they are needed – and the places they go range from large metropolitan airports to military bases to the most austere of environments.
“The C-17 is designed to fly halfway around the world,” said Eggert, “and, with mid-air refueling, its range is essentially unlimited. Also, the C 17 is designed to take off and land on very short airfields.”
The 6th AS is the oldest airlift squadron in the U.S. Air Force. It was established in 1933, activated in 1939, and has participated in every war in which the U.S. has fought since then. It earned its nickname the “Bully Beef Express” during World War II.
The moniker came from the squadron’s work delivering canned beef to allied forces in the Pacific Theater. The French forces called the product “bouilli boeuf” which became Americanized as “Bully Beef.”
The 6th AS has been involved in many notable American military activities. One of the more recent was the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in September, 2021.
“If there is an emergency situation in the world, we have to be prepared to go,” said Eggert. The crews knew the situation in Afghanistan was deteriorating but when they showed up, they expected things to still be under control. The airfield fell when they landed which they were not expecting to deal with.”
A lasting image of the U.S. Air Force’s work in Kabul that day is the now famous picture of more than 850 refugees escaping the airport chaos packed shoulder to shoulder on a single C-17.
Eggert cited a prime example of how quickly his squadron reacts to global situations.
“A week after the Hamas-Israel conflict ignited on October 7, 2023, we got a phone call from command saying we need to get all of our air crews ready,” he said. “Within the hour, we called every crew available and told them to pack their bags and go to bed. We told them to expect a call in 12 hours, but we don’t know yet where you will be going or what you will be doing.”
Senior Airman Jesse Harrelson, one of the youngest of the Loadmasters on the 6th AS team summed up the difficulties of prepping for such an assignment.
“When I get a call like that, I pack my ski jacket and my bathing suit.”
Captain Christian Brandon is an aircraft commander in the 6th AS. He typically commands a crew of seven.
On most missions, a flight requires three or four flying days, and each mission day can extend to 18-20 hours. Rest is a precious commodity.
“Sometimes we get time to rest at the location where we land before we get back in the air,” said Brandon. “Other times we have a couple of days between flights. It depends on the mission.”
Eggert proudly notes that “Brandon is 29 years-old and has the responsibility to take a $30 million aircraft and his crew wherever in the world he needs to go – “sometimes across the country, sometimes to other countries and sometimes into hostile environments.”
Eggert and Brandon estimate that most of the C-17 pilots in the Air Force are in their upper 20s.
The U.S. Air Force has more than 200 C-17s (no other air force has more than eight) and its versatility means most of them are in action all of the time.
“One of our biggest challenges is dealing with how busy things get,” said Major Michael Crampton, assistant director of operations for the 6th AS. “Originally, we were tasked with seven crews and four C-17s.
“But there are multiple times when C-17s coming through Germany are assigned to us, so it can get to as many as 35 crews.”
NOTE: Germany is the hub for U.S. aircraft coming from and going to the Middle East.
The numbers reveal how busy – and effective – the 6th AS has been.
From October 2024 through March 2025, the unit executed more missions, sorties, flight hours, cargo deliveries and personnel movement than any of the other C-17 squadron in the Air Force.
“The past six months have showcased not only our capability, but also our consistency, said Eggert. “In that six-month period, we managed 1,200 individual flights, 32 percent more than the next busiest squadron.”
“It wasn’t just the volume of flights,” noted Brandon. “We weren’t just flying from point A to point B. These missions required rapid planning, dynamic re-tasking and close coordination with multiple combat commands and U.S. agencies. That is the kind of challenge we train for, and our team delivered.”
During this frantically busy time, the 6th AS helped supply munitions and materials to support Ukraine’s defense; bolster naval readiness in the Red and Mediterranean Seas in the face of increased aggression by the Houthi; provide Sea Hawk helicopters to the Indian Navy to enhance its anti-submarine and anti-mine capabilities; deploy a missile defense system to USCENTCOM.
“We don’t fly without the great support we get from across the base – the 305th Maintenance squadron, logistics, the security squadrons,” Eggert said. “We get the credit, but the support of these teams is equally responsible.”
Staff Sergeant Jacob McNeese is a Loadmaster for the 6th AS. His mission is to ensure the equipment loaded on a C-17 is done safely since much of the cargo includes ammunition and hazardous materials or ultra-heavy equipment such as tanks.
“One of the challenges we face is teaching the new guys about loading non-standard cargo,” said McNeese. “Mostly what they see are Humvees or pallets of equipment. Then all of a sudden, we are loading these really big vehicles that none of our guys have seen before.”
There are rollers all along the floor of a C-17 to more easily move pallets of cargo and equipment. These rollers can be flipped over to create a flat surface which can better accommodate the loading of large vehicles.
“There was a time when we were scheduling 30 crews for three straight weeks,” Harrelson recalled with a pause. “That was a lot.”
In order to fulfill the Air Force’s strategic imperative that military forces be deployed anywhere around the globe within hours, squadrons like the 6th AS must maintain a virtual 24-hour state of alert and be ready to move with little notice.
That requires its members to make considerable sacrifices in their personal and family lives.
“I would never plan for the weekend until Thursday night,” said Eggert. You don’t buy tickets to concerts or sporting events because there is a good chance you are going to be here answering a call.”
“It is the mentality of an air crew,” said Crampton. “You may think you have the weekend off, but everyone knows that it can change overnight. This is the community we live in. I deployed this past December when my daughter was three months old. It was all on my wife. It is asking a lot of her, but she held down the fort. She crushed it.”
“We are on the road a lot,” agreed Brandon who approximated that early in his flight career, he was on the road about 300 days per year. The travel burden is less for him now.
“Anyone with children has to balance work and home life,” said Eggert who has three children. “It’s a hard thing to do when the scheduler could be taking a phone call right now and then come in and point to a couple of the guys and tell them in 12 hours they are leaving for a month.
“The guys can’t say they have other things planned. In some jobs you might be able to say ‘I don’t want to do that” or you have the option to quit the job. But these guys can’t quit.”
“The U.S. Military is structured to play the away game,” Eggert summed up. “We don’t want to play the home game. That is why we need the ability to move and project our power quickly over great distances. To do that, you need air mobility command.”
