Four months ago, when her husband left for war, Jenny Allemeier was four months pregnant with a 2-year-old in tow. So she and her daughter Kylie went to Texas to be with family, and relied heavily on cyberspace to communicate with Bernie, a pilot helping to manage the logistics of 6,100 sorties.

Hannah Weiner decided to get things done during the months she spent separated from her husband Kenny. She ran a marathon. She installed new hardwood floors at home. She attended a wedding in Texas. She visited family in Washington, D.C.

'I'm much more productive when he's gone,' she said.

DeDe Musa, waiting with her friends Thursday at Charleston Air Force Base with her white poodle Plato, spent part of the last four months assembling a to-do list for her husband. Poor Jamil.

Each of the women had devised the same plan for the evening: dinner and romance. A classic combination.

Then, at about 5 p.m., the C-17 was waved in, and the gathering of Air Force personnel and family moved forward to greet about 54 members of 16th Airlift Squadron as they disembarked from the giant gray aircraft. Children waved little American flags.

Squadron members returned Thursday from a tour abroad where they were responsible for 'stage-managing' a large airlift operation that brought equipment, supplies, personnel and other cargo into Iraq and Afghanistan.

Forty percent of the air cargo designated for that region is flown from Charleston, according to the Air Force.

Lt. Col. Blaine Holt, commander of the squadron, returned to a son with an arm in a cast. A skateboarding accident caused a compound fracture a couple weeks ago, but Nick Holt, 12, said he plans to get right back on the thing. His father was surrounded by family, all smiles and full of praise for his squadron. 'I'm practically the manager of the All-Star Team,' he said. 'I know what it's like to be Joe Torre now.'

The operation was complex, he said. His team had to manage flights from six locations and 12 time zones, transport 252 million pounds of cargo and fly 6,100 missions.

Capt. Steve Lindmark, a squadron pilot who returned about a week ago in the first wave of returning airmen, said the military is relying more and more on the C-17s. Whereas before they were used mostly for strategic, long-distance hauls, now they're being deployed for tactical, short-distance trips so U.S. forces can reduce the number of truck convoys on the ground. Convoys are susceptible to attacks from insurgents.

What's more, Lindmark said, the big planes hold six times more cargo than the older C-130s yet can use the same airfields, even landing on 3,000-foot-long dirt runways. Pilots benefit from electronic controls and quick inputs, he said.

'The C-17s have never been used like they are now,' Lindmark said.

On the tarmac, Capt. Bernie Allemeier held his daughter Kylie in his arms. Kylie resembles her dad, and her eyes stayed focused on his face, her little hands touched his cheeks. Jenny Allemeier stood close to her husband, smiling, happy, belly bulging after eight months of pregnancy.

'Looks like I'm back just in time,' Bernie Allemeier said.

Reach Adam Parker at 745-5860 or aparker@postandcourier.com.