Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina is the home of the 437th Airlift Wing and their Reserve Associate, the 315th Airlift Wing. There are more than 3,700 active duty personnel, 2,700 reservists, and 1,300 civilians at the base. Charleston is also home to approximately 16,700 military retirees. The airfield shares two intersecting runways with Charleston International Airport, and the base has an economic impact on the area of approximately $550 million.

The Mission of the 437th

As its name implies, the mission of the 437th is to provide airlift capabilities using their 54 C-17 Globemaster III carriers. Charleston was, in fact, the first C-17 base in the Air Force. The Globemaster can cruise at 518 mph and, thanks to aerial refueling, has a global range.

It can carry an astonishing 170,000 pounds, a true workhorse. The Globemaster's capacity is also remarkable: it can fit two large buses, three helicopters, or a tank. The C-17 can airdrop both cargo and more than a hundred paratroopers, and can land on runways as short as 3,000 feet.

The capabilities of the Globemaster and its crews make it ideal not only for military applications but also for humanitarian uses such as the Denton Amendment Program. The Denton Program provides for donations for humanitarian purposes to be shipped to the destination country on a space-available basis. In one recent year, the Denton Program shipped almost 430,000 lbs in 25 missions, and 80 percent of that cargo went through Charleston AFB.