Reports: Mobility Airmen continue global support effort for Japan

Published March 16, 2011
By Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
Air Mobility Command Public Affairs

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Reports from throughout the Department of Defense are showing a U.S. military-wide effort to support humanitarian relief efforts for the quake- and tsunami-stricken areas of Japan. However, behind the scenes of that effort, are mobility Airmen from Pacific Air Forces, Air Mobility Command and many other units getting the supplies to where they are needed.

On March 16, a DOD report showed that "Air Force C-17s and C-130s delivered 19 generators to Misawa Air Base (Japan) for the base's power system and resupply pallets to Yokota Air Base (Japan)."

Among those Airmen who helped deliver those generators March 12 from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, was Capt. Nate Amidon, a C-17 Globemaster III pilot with the 535th Airlift Squadron at the joint base, according to a 15th Wing Public Affairs report. He was part of a seven-person aircrew going on a planned 10-day trip. They transported 25 joint base Airmen from various Air Force specialties to Yokota AB and the aircraft was loaded with four generators.

Captain Amidon said in the report that he was glad to be a part of the team going to help efforts in Japan.

"It's what we train to do, so it's nice to be able to put that training to use in helping the people of Japan," Captain Amidon said. "If we can help out and do our part, then that's what we'll do."

At Yokota AB is a wing full of mobility Aimen -- the 374th Airlift Wing -- which is equipped with C-130 Hercules, UH-1N and C-12J aircraft. According to its wing fact sheet, the wing serves "as the primary Western Pacific airlift hub for peacetime and contingency operations." Additionally, the wing "provides airlift for the movement of passengers, cargo and mail to all Department of Defense agencies in the Pacific area of responsibility and provides transport for people and equipment throughout the Kanto Plain and the Tokyo metropolitan area."

For the Japan relief operations, Yokota AB has also turned into one of the primary airlift hubs for the effort. Keeping up a 24-hour-a-day schedule, reports from Yokota show mobility Airmen delivering fuels trucks, helping victims and doing everything they can to help out.

Tech. Sgt. Jade Orr, an air transportation craftsman, or aerial porter, from the 374th Logistics Readiness Squadron at Yokota, said in a March 16 news report by 374th AW Public Affairs they are putting forth their best effort.

"It's mainly our job to help the Japanese reestablish, get a foothold, [and to] get communications back up," Sergeant Orr said. "We'll do anything we can to help the Japanese."

Early on, Air Mobility Command's mobility Airmen were also doing whatever they could to help and their effort continues.

For example, a March 14 report from the Tanker Airlift Control Center Public Affairs at Scott AFB showed there were two C-17 missions with Airmen from Travis AFB, Calif., and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., that delivered search and rescue teams and equipment to Japan. Those C-17 missions as well as others currently going on are also supported by air refueling aircraft like the KC-10 Extender and the KC-135 Stratotanker. Additionally, according to the report, "mission planning and command-and-control for the AMC portion of the humanitarian effort" were conducted by the TACC.

"As AMC's hub for global operations, the TACC plans, schedules and directs a fleet of nearly 1,300 mobility aircraft in support of strategic airlift, air refueling, and aeromedical evacuation operations around the world," the report shows.

All the efforts by mobility Airmen for Japan are reflective of the busy effort that's been done across the globe for operations in airlift since Sept. 11, 2001. According to an AMC talking paper from March 11, since Sept. 11, 2001, mobility Airmen have moved more than 16.4 million passengers and more than six million tons of cargo. Additionally, the report shows that more than 1.9 billion gallons of fuel has been off-loaded to aircraft through global air refueling efforts to support operations since Sept. 11, 2001.

(Capt. Justin Brockhoff, TACC Public Affairs, Cheryl Pellerin, American Forces Press Service, Staff Sgt. Nathan Allen, 15th Wing Public Affairs, and Airman John Partlow, 374th Airlift Wing Public Affairs, contributed to this report.)