Reservists deliver Haiti aid over holiday weekend

Published July 5, 2011
By Staff Sgt. Rashard Coaxum
315th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

Joint Base Charleston, S.C. -- While most Charlestonians were at home with family over the Fourth of July holiday weekend enjoying the beaches, hot dogs and fireworks, members of the 315th Airlift Wing departed Friday on a C-17 Globemaster III from Joint Base Charleston, S.C. on a humanitarian aid mission bound for the island of Haiti.

The aircraft delivered 7 pallets of humanitarian aid containing over 50,000 pounds of rice as well as a 24,000 pound dump truck in support of the ongoing relief efforts to the island.

This mission flew in support of the Denton program which has been providing aid to the disaster stricken island since it was ravaged by an earthquake almost two years ago. Much of the aid provided to the people of Haiti is destined for orphanages and villages across the island where the ability to access those resources is scarce.

The Denton program provides direct transportation of disaster relief materials to foreign countries in need. It gives organizations and individual citizens of the United States the opportunity to transport the donations via U.S. military planes on a space-available basis to eligible countries. Air Mobility Command, which has been directed to fly many of the missions, uses Charleston-based C-17s to deliver the aid.

"This is not just another mission. This goes beyond war," said Master Sgt. Ron Newbold of the Air Forces efforts to Haiti.

Sergeant Newbold, a loadmaster with the 300th Airlift Squadron here, has flown on several other humanitarian aid missions worldwide. "We get the chance to help people who are in need and who have no other way to get the necessary things just to live life from day to day," he explaned.

The program, which is cooperatively ran by USAID, the State Department and Department of Defense, took flight immediately after the island was struck by an earthquake Jan.12, 2010. Since that time, the 315th has been called to fly multiple missions to the island helping to deliver over 2 million pounds of aid cargo. Besides food C-17s have delivered other items such as furniture, clothing, and school supplies in support of the program.

The Pan American Health Organization estimates that almost 220,000 people have been killed, 300,000 others have been injured and nearly a million have been left homeless by the earthquake. This mission will benefit over 7,000 children living in orphanages and over 8,000 Haitians in total across the island.

"We know this [mission] has a direct impact in helping get this rice down to folks that need it," said aircraft commander, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Smith, from the 300th Airlift Wing, of the aid delivery mission. "We know Haiti is still suffering after the earthquake."

Besides the Haiti disaster, the 315th Airlift Wing has helped transport aid to other countries across the world including Central and South America and countries in European. Many of the aid missions were in support of projects like the Denton program which have given the members of the 315th Airlift Wing a new meaning to the old adage of lending a helping hand and how our reach extends far beyond just what is seen.

"It's not about us," Sergeant Newbold said. "This mission is about the heart, and the heart of it is the people in need."