Base marks National Transportation Week Published May 21, 2014 By Staff Sgt. Maria Bowman 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Bridges, roads and interstates are all part of the nation's transportation infrastructure, and play a role in the lives of every citizen in this country, including the ability to drive to work safely, shipping medical supplies to hospitals around the country, and even shipping cargo and supplies to military units overseas and in deployed locations. President Barack Obama stated in the 2014 Presidential Proclamation for National Defense Transportation Day and National Transportation Week, "A sound transportation system allows businesses to safely move their goods to market, and maintaining that system creates jobs upgrading ports, unclogging commutes, and repairing roads and rails. During National Defense Transportation Day and National Transportation Week, we underscore the importance of infrastructure to our economy, security, and way of life." Scott Air Force Base celebrated National Transportation Week May 12-16 and National Defense Transportation Day May 16. Team Scott was invited to look at static displays and demonstrations of the vehicles vital to missions conducted by the base. There was also a 5K walk/run honoring fallen transportation personnel and a luncheon. "Transportation is so important, because everything in the military is underpinned by logistics, from food, ammunition and fuel, parts and even simple things like pens and paper," said Lt. Col. Matthew Baker, 375th Logistics Readiness Squadron commander. "All of that stuff is required by the military to be able to function and get its mission done. You really can't fly planes with just the planes or the pilot. Aircraft maintenance capabilities, such as refueling the aircraft and putting cargo on aircraft are also important. People in logistics are the unsung heroes." Baker said that having an efficient way to travel from one location to another helps keep costs low. These costs include gas and additional wear and tear to a vehicle. "When it comes to transportation networks, everything you buy and sell moves along a transportation network," Baker said. "It's vital to the economy to have well maintained and robust infrastructure and be able to move stuff cheaply and efficiently. If you have an inefficient system, it's going to create more cost, and that cost will be passed on to the consumer. It's really hard to move stuff around over dirt roads, grass tracks or across fields. In America, we take that network for granted. If you don't have it, say at a deployed location that has a bad transportation network, you start seeing the effects and wear and tear on the vehicles and the increased transit times. There is a whole plethora of things that go into making things as effective and efficient as possible; it starts with transportation." Scott Air Force Base has numerous organizations that rely heavily on having good transportation networks. U.S. Transportation Command oversees transportation for the entire defense department. The 618th Tanker Airlift Control Center is responsible for mobility airlift around the world. "It's all done here at Scott, in the middle of cornfields," Baker said. "The Army has its Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, which does ground transportation movement for the entire Department of Defense. These have worldwide impacts day in and day out." Baker said during WWII American troops in Europe saw the Autoban system and wanted to create that in the U.S., so the federal government went through a big process of establishing the interstate system. The Interstate Highway System was authorized by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956. Before the interstate system was built, people traveled across a two-lane highway, even when travelling across the country. This made transportation of people and equipment slow. This transportation network helped make travel more efficient and cheaper for Americans. After 35 years of construction and spending $114 billion, it was proclaimed to be complete in 1992. Baker said, "National Transportation Week is to commemorate that massive achievement that we take for granted nowadays, but obviously it's very hard to move across the U.S. by vehicle without having an interstate system. We're here now to celebrate that achievement." President Obama said he wants America to remember the importance of infrastructure to this country's economy, security and its way of life. "I call upon all Americans to recognize the importance of our nation's transportation infrastructure and to acknowledge the contributions of those who build, operate, and maintain it," he said.