U.S. Coast Guard Strike Force gets lift from Travis Reserve wing

Published May 5, 2010
By Senior Master Sgt. Ellen L. Hatfield
349th AMW Public Affairs

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- With a display of joint cooperation and capability that depends upon rapid deployment of resources, Travis AFB partnered with the U.S. Coast Guard May 2 to get desperately needed equipment to the oil-ravaged waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Though they normally truck equipment in to disaster-stricken locations, the Coast Guard's Pacific Strike Team in California contacted the 349th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base for help in getting their equipment there faster.

The C-17 Globemaster III crew included Capt. Adam Walsh, aircraft commander; Maj. Matt Vukich and Capt. David Berry, pilots; and Senior Master Sgt. Charles Speir and Staff Sgt. Tinna Kroll, loadmasters, all assigned to the Reserve's 301st Airlift Squadron; and Staff Sgt. Andrew Baumgart, an active-duty flying crew chief with the 860th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 60th Air Mobility Wing.

"This was a historic event for me," said Lt. J.G. Michael Oubre, USCG Gulf Strike Team, Mobile, Ala. "I was there to meet the load, and it was my first experience using a Department of Defense asset for something like this. We usually load our equipment on trucks for transport."

Reserve aerial porters from Travis got to work weighing and palletizing the equipment; 17 pallets in all. According to Lieutenant Oubre, the cargo included 10 reels of inflatable boom, 656 feet each, to be positioned off shore to keep the oil slick from coming ashore. Once they are unrolled and blown up, temporary storage devices, like a big bladder, suck up the oil. Four of these were in the shipment with a capacity to hold 70,000 gallons of oil.

"For such a short notice tasking, everything went quite smoothly," added Captain Walsh. "Lt. Col. William Wickersham, our 301st AS director of operations, started calling crew members Friday night, as soon as he got the word. He worked tirelessly to assemble a crew. The whole group sprang together to help."

The crew departed Travis at about 6 p.m. on May 2, landing in Mobile at 11:30 p.m. With a few hours on the ground to get the equipment safely on its way to the final destination, the Travis crew was back home by 6 a.m. the following morning.

The mission was a joint service, total force initiative, involving personnel from Travis AFB and the Coast Guard. The lieutenant said their crew off-loading the equipment at Travis were Reservists, and active duty personnel were on hand to load it for the trip from Mobile to the disaster location in Louisiana.

Captain Berry talked about the challenges they faced upon arriving in Mobile. "It was late at night, on a Saturday, so the radar and tower operators were not there, so it was an uncontrolled airport. There were also some crosswinds, and although it wasn't raining, it was overcast. It was more difficult than we expected."

But both pilots agreed that the rewards of flying humanitarian missions far outweigh any obstacles.

"It's nice to know we're having a direct impact on saving whole ecosystems," said Captain Berry. "We don't get to see that all the time."

"We do so many contingency missions, and so little humanitarian, that it is a welcome opportunity," added Captain Walsh. "It is great to be part of the solution."

The National Strike Force, an entity of the U.S. Coast Guard's new Deployable Operations Group, provides highly trained, experienced people and specialized equipment to Coast Guard and other federal agencies to aid preparedness for, and response to, oil and hazardous substance pollution incidents to protect public health and the environment. Their area of responsibility covers all Coast Guard districts and Federal Response Regions. Their mission statement is "the world's best responders: any time, any place, any hazard."

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