Unified Response: Command continues to provide assistance to earthquake-rocked nation

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  • By Staff Reports
  • Air Force Reserve Command
Citizen Airman/Apr 2010 --  Two months after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake killed an estimated more than 200,000 people and devastated Haiti's capital city of Port-au-Prince, Air Force Reserve Command continues to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to the Haitian people.

AFRC officials said the pace of operations as part of Operation Unified Response has slowed down considerably since the first missions were flown Jan. 13, just one day after the earthquake struck. However, units throughout the country are continuing to provide support.

Between Jan. 13 and Feb. 25, AFRC crews flew more than 220 associate and unit-equipped aircraft missions supporting OUR operations. Aircraft involved included C-130s, MC-130s, C-17s, C-5s, KC-10s and KC-135s.

During that same timeframe, Reservists took part in 30 aeromedical evacuation missions, either on AFRC or Air Mobility Command aircraft, involving more than 1,000 patients.

Shortly after the earthquake, Homestead Air Reserve Base, Fla., was established as one of two aerial ports of embarkation for the relief efforts, serving as a staging area for Air Force, Marine, Navy and Coast Guard troops, equipment and supplies to be flown into Port-au-Prince. The other aerial port of embarkation was Charleston Air Force Base, S.C.

In addition, Homestead functioned as a processing center for people -- primarily U.S. citizens -- who were evacuated from Haiti to the United States on C-130 aircraft.

The base had returned to normal operations by mid-February, but during that one-month period, Homestead staff and volunteers -- working around the clock -- processed 4,309 passengers (including patients), uploaded or downloaded 312 aircraft and processed 2,070 short tons, or 4,140,000 pounds, of cargo.

According to AFRC manpower officials, the command has had 534 Airmen, in a wide variety of career fields, on military orders in support of OUR. However, only 36 of these people were actually on the ground in Haiti. The rest were based in the United States or in the region.

Participation in OUR relief efforts extended all the way down to Reservists who were in Puerto Rico for their Coronet Oak rotational deployment. Coronet Oak is the U.S. Southern Command's airlift mission that provides humanitarian aid to the Central and South American theater of operations as well as islands in the Caribbean Sea. Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard C-130 aircrews and maintenance professionals rotate to Muniz Air Base on a bi-weekly basis and maintain readiness for any airlift requirement.

A maintenance team from the 302nd Airlift Wing at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., arrived at Muniz Jan. 23 and quickly got involved with supporting OUR missions with the 35th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron to transport water, medical supplies and other needed items to the people of Haiti.

The maintainers did an "outstanding job" and were "gung-ho" in making sure the aircraft were ready to fly, said Capt. Sharon Rice, 35th EAS maintenance officer. "My biggest challenge is making sure they get enough rest. They want to get our planes back into the air."

"The support Air Mobility Command (Airmen -- regular Air Force, Reserve and Guard) provided, and continue to provide, after the earthquake in Haiti has been the largest, most concentrated disaster response I've seen in my 25-year Air Force career," said Col. Brian Reno, director of the 618th Tanker Airlift Control Center's Contingency Response Cell for OUR. "The Contingency Response Cell was running for 30 days straight, which is the longest activation the CRC has seen since Sept. 11, 2001."

(This story was compiled from information taken from a variety of sources, including Air Force Print News and Air Force Reserve Command news releases, as well as data provided by the AFRC history office.)