JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. – -- The transportation warehouse never closes. Year-round, day or night, air transportation Airmen are moving the mission. This expertise at the 305th Aerial Port Squadron is not a secret and other Defense Department organizations look to glean some of this mastery.
Periodically throughout the year, civilian interns have the opportunity to soak up some of the transportation and logistics knowledge at the aerial port here while shadowing Airmen for on-the-job training. The training, part of a larger DOD program, is intended to prepare the civilian interns for their careers in logistics management as they are afterwards assigned to a variety of helping agencies around the DOD.
“The internship here is only part of an 18-month program out of Fort Lee, Virginia,” said David Lamphere, 305th APS civilian. “They start as a GS-7 and by the time they finish the program they become a GS-11. It is our hope they pick up some of the expertise here on their way.”
The internship provides an opportunity for civilian employees to see the masters of air mobility at work and allows them to take some of that knowledge back to their respective employers. After completing training, the civilian employees can be assigned to military installations and agencies, like the Defense Logistics Agency, throughout the country.
“There really is a lot for the interns to learn here depending on how greasy they want to get their hands,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Mark Heil, 305th APS commander. “The interns have an opportunity to learn and see firsthand how we provide logistics worldwide.”
The focus of the seven-week period of internship is transportation, maintenance and supply. The interns assemble pallets for transportation alongside Airmen, manage materials in the warehouse and facilitate deliveries to the port by both land and air.
Following the internship and the completion of the 18-month course, the civilians begin their careers in logistics hopefully more equipped from having interned here.
“It’s a win-win for the Air Force and the respective organizations the civilians return to,” said Heil. “They take the information back to their organization – benefiting the DOD as a whole. The internship here really allows them to learn the bread and butter for moving air cargo and we hope they can take some of that with them.”