Airmen wrap up airdrop campaign

Published Dec. 18, 2006
By Tech. Sgt. Steve Staedler
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

NAIROBI, Kenya -- The Air Force C-130 Hercules team Dec. 14 wrapped up its six-day campaign of airdropping more than 211,000 pounds of supplies into the flood-ravaged Dadaab region of eastern Kenya.

But to children on the ground, it was the last 60 pounds that maybe made the most difference.

As a way to say goodbye and good luck, the Air Force parachuted four boxes of candy Dec. 14 following its final airdrop of tents, tarps and mosquito netting.

"Children are living there in a situation that's beyond their control," said 1st Lt. Dan Spengler, a C-130 pilot with the 746th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron. "If we can put smiles on their faces, even for just a day, then we did a good thing."

About two hours prior to the departure of the last mission, Airmen forward deployed to the capital city of Nairobi supporting the airdrop campaign Operation Unity Knight, chipped in money to buy candy. After collecting about $100, a runner purchased three boxes of candy and several smaller bags of sweets from a local store. An empty Meals, Ready to Eat box was just the right size to contain the smaller bags.

The only thing left was to deliver them -- and that is when the ingenuity of the "rigger" team from the 386th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron came into play.

Since the payload in the Hercules was already secured, the boxes could not be attached to one of the 14 pallets. The team, led by Capt. James King, deployed to the 386th ELRS from Robins Air Force Base, Ga., devised a miniature parachute system for the sweet payload.

"We thought about how we could airdrop the candy when the idea first came up," Captain King said. "But we only had 45 minutes from the time the candy arrived before the aircraft took off. The principles of parachutes are the same, (regardless) of the size. We were fairly confident it would work."

So the team went to work, first cutting a 2-foot-by-3-foot platform to use as the base. Next, it used a bed sheet as the parachute and tied thin nylon rope around the four corners. Then the ends of the rope were tied to a harness, which was secured to the base. With the four boxes taped together and secured to the harness and pallet, it was ready for delivery.

After the Hercules delivered its payload on the drop zone, it circled around to line up for a second pass. Loadmasters Staff Sgt. Patrick Delselva and Senior Airman Chris Elder, both deployed to the 746th EAS from Dyess AFB, Texas, knelt down on the edge of the cargo ramp with the special delivery next to them. A push sent it airborne.

Captain King's design and the work of his team paid off as the parachute opened, sending the candy down to earth for a soft landing.

"We've never put something together like this that fast," Captain King said. "I thought it might slow it down, but it worked great. The guys on my team gave me good input and our hard work paid off."

The candy airdrop brought a close to the Air Force's mission in eastern Kenya. Since Dec. 9, the Hercules from the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing completed nine airdrops to three different drop zones in the Dadaab region, an area about 290 miles northeast of Nairobi. The region is home to three camps containing about 160,000 Somali refugees who fled their country 14 years ago following an uprising.

The Air Force became involved in the humanitarian effort following a request by the Kenyan government to airdrop supplies into the region after weeks of rain and flooding washed out many roads.

Capt. Russ Parramore, deployed from Dyess AFB, Texas, is the chief of tactics for the 746th EAS. He called the airdrops a great success and credited all branches of the military in coming together to accomplish the mission. He called the humanitarian mission one of the most rewarding deployments he has ever been on -- and dropping candy to children on the ground was a perfect closure.

"These children have never known anything but a refugee camp," he said. "They deserve better. Hopefully these boxes of candy will bring them a few days of happiness."