What equipment a team does not have stored is obtained from NDMS through prearranged agreements. Ideally, much of a teams stored equipment should be on wooden skids and ready to be moved by truck to either the deployed site or to another form of transportation such as a C-130 or C-141 airplane. Packaging should be simple and sturdy. By breaking equipment down into "Action Packers", such as are made by Coleman and Rubbermaid, items are made easier to find.  The OH-5 packers also are numerically coded so that any item on the basic load can be found.

Action Packers should also have DMAT team identification, such as OH-5, in one inch block lettering. Colors and Identification should be on the top, end and sides. An list of contents should also be in the inside. OH-5 has pre-grouped 9 packers per skid so they can be easily loaded on trucks.  Each grouping is charted after loading so that its location is known.  Items that are needed quickly such as communications gear, MREs, and water are loaded near the back of trucks for easy access.

Food items such as MREs will require special loading and storage and are loaded on the refrigerated truck. Other food items may or may not be transported depending upon the level of NDMS support.

Many large itmes such as cots, tents, water, MREs, etc. may be preloaded on skids.  In addition large loose items such as sleeping bags may be loaded in trifold boxes on skids.

Large equipment such as generators may be simply straight loaded but braced after loading on trucks.

Often equipment on wooden skids are placed on pallets still on their wooden skids. The wooden skids are easier to reload on ground transportation if trucks are available at the landing area. However, in some cases the equipment may be transferred from the skids to the pallet to make tight packing easier. In any case packed wooden skids are almost always torn down by military loading crews to confirm their contents before loading. Heavier and/or bulky items are loaded onto the pallet first to act as a support base and to lower the center of gravity.

Combustible fuels are always segregated onto a single skid where the cans are exposed to the outside of the pallets and well labeled. You will be limited in the quantity of fuel you can fly aboard a military aircraft. Commercial aircraft are not allowed to carry liquid or gas fuels at all. The only fuels you may fly aboard a commercial airline are fuels such as Sterno, Trioxane, etc. Be aware that fuel is almost always loaded last on the aircraft and sometimes on short pallets directly on the loading gate. If a problem should develop in the air with leaking fuel, the load master will ask no questions, lower the loading ramp and then ditch the pallet. Don't keep anything on the fuel pallet that you can't afford to loose.

The military loading crews after loading the contents on the aluminum pallets will cover the pallet with a plastic bag to protect it from the weather. These are very large bags which could cover an entire car. Please note that when you have landed and unpacked, save the bags; they can be most useful around the compound in a number of roles!Following this procedure, the crew will put into place a nylon harness net on the top and two around the sides. The harnesses nets are then carefully tightened down to the pallet so that no shifting will occur while in transit. Tags are then placed in several locations indicating the weight and general contents. The pallets are now ready for loading. Here the "Load master" takes over from the Loadtechs and decides how and where the pallets will be loaded. The load master may also break into a pallet to confirm item if he chooses. He will also fly with the equipment to its point of unloading.

Our Dayton DMAT team has had the privilege of training with the 445th Air Transport Wing at the Wright Patterson Air force base. Although it is likely that military personnel will do all of the palletization operation, it is good for the team to know what transport groups need to make their tasks easier. If you have the opportunity, work with a military team to learn this stage of your deployment.