Air Force flies relief supplies, power vehicles into New York

Published Nov. 2, 2012
Air Mobility Command Public Affairs

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Yesterday hundreds of Air Force active-duty, Reservists and Guardsmen worked day and night loading and flying 12 C-5 and C-17 airlift, bringing 636 short tons of badly-needed equipment and power support vehicles to areas of the East Coast ravaged by Hurricane Sandy.

Airmen from more than 12 active duty, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve bases came together at March Air Reserve Base, Calif., to send support, including 69 vehicles belonging to the Southern California Edison utility company, to Stewart Air National Guard Base, N.Y. The last mission will take off from March ARB today.

"I have a brother who lives in Long Island, N.Y., and when I called him yesterday he didn't have any power," said Senior Master Sgt. Robert Healy, March ARB. "It's good that we're able to get our people from California out there to help them."

Raymond F. Hicks, Southern California Edison region manager, said, " [Southern California Edison vehicles were] loaded to go back east to Consolidated Edison service territory.

We're quite excited about this opportunity between Edison and the military joining together to get the vehicles back there."

Today, members of the 621st Contingency Response Element at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., arrived at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, Ariz., to continue relief support operations.
Working with members of the Arizona National Guard's 161st Air Refueling Wing, the Airmen will send approximately 40 bucket, boom and digger relief vehicles from the greater Phoenix area to aid in the hurricane relief efforts. The C-5 Galaxy's and C-17 Globemaster IIIs are bound for Stewart ANGB, N.Y.

The 621st Contingency Response Element is highly-specialized in training and rapidly deploying personnel to quickly open airfields and establish, expand, sustain, and coordinate air mobility operations.

The rapid response was made possible through the combined efforts of planners at U.S. Transportation Command, Air Mobility Command's 18th Air Force and the 618th Air and Space Operations Center (Tanker Airlift Control Center) here operating as part of the U.S. Northern Command-led effort supporting the Federal Emergency Management Agency's storm response efforts.

"These missions are very important because we are helping more than 5 million people without electricity get back up on their feet," said Capt. June Chung, 618th TACC channel cargo systems director. "Much like the Haiti and Japanese relief operations, Mobility Airmen are providing hope and supplies as quickly as we can to those in need."