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Grissom reservists make impact with Haitian relief

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jami K. Lancette
  • 434th ARW Public Affairs
GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. --  From home to abroad, the Air Force projects global vigilance, reach and power, and with that, Airmen have opportunity to have a positive influence around the world.

Reservists from Grissom and Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina, made such an opportunity a reality as they helped deliver more than 91,000 pounds of food, clothes and supplies to more than 13,000 people in Haiti as part of a humanitarian relief mission Aug. 14.

"Most of us join to help out the United States," said Staff Sgt. Michael Walden 49th Aerial Port Flight aerial port specialist. "It's awesome to see a group of us get together to help over 13,000 people in need in other countries, too."

The work was done under the Denton Program, a part of a Department of Defense humanitarian assistance transportation program, which provides continual transportation of supplies such as agricultural equipment, clothing, educational supplies, food and medical supplies to countries in need of assistance.

"Sometimes it's hard to explain to family and friends what we do exactly," said Walden. "So when we're able to tell them what we did to support this mission and how we were able to help people, it shows them the bigger picture of what we do."

With that bigger picture in focus, it was an all-hands on deck operation to get everything packaged and transported to Haiti.

"The process actually begins when the donating organization puts in for approval through the Denton program at Charleston," said Master Sgt. Laurie Latchaw, 49th APF deputy superintendent. "And, in this case we had three separate shipments of donations that were approved at the same time.

"Once they get approval then the Denton cargo folks will go and ask for the closest Air Force or military installation that will accept the Denton cargo for airlift," Latchaw added. "Once we accepted the mission then we had the tedious process of actually getting it staged here at Grissom and ready for our folks to come in on our unit training assembly."

After the cargo made its way to Grissom, a little math, maneuvering and muscle came from Airmen around the 434th Air Refueling Wing to put the pieces together.

"While we're building the pallets it was crucial that we actually knew where we're going to place them, because we have a lot of restrictions on this particular aircraft that they opted to fly our cargo out with," said Latchaw. "The KC-10 has a lot of height restrictions; it has contours, so we have to build the cargo to fit the airplane."

With the pallets built and the restrictions met, Airmen said they finished the mission with a sense of pride and accomplishment.

"When you begin to plan a humanitarian mission, people are raising their hands to help," said Latchaw. "They have a great sense of accomplishment when it's done, and they take that home and share that with their families.

"It's just a wonderful opportunity for people to remember that we volunteer to come out here, and to have such a mission when you go home at night and say 'yeah I'm tired but it was for a great cause,'" she added.

The 434th ARW is the largest KC-135R stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command. Airmen and aircraft from the 434th ARW routinely deploy around the globe in support of the Air Force mission and U.S. strategic objectives.

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Public Affairs Staff

Material contained on the Official Grissom Air Reserve Base Internet Web Site is written and produced by members of the 434th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs Office. The award-winning staff includes:

Ben Mota
Chief, public affairs

Maj. Elias Zani
Public affairs officer

Master Sgt. Wendy Day
Staff writer

Tech. Sgt. Alexa Culbert
Staff writer

Senior Airman Elise Faurote
Staff writer

Senior Airman Benjamin Cowles
Staff writer