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Team Charleston assists with Russian sub rescue

  • Published
CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --   Team Charleston played a part in the rescue effort Aug. 5 to save seven Russian sailors trapped in a mini submarine 600 feet underwater. The sub became tangled in fishing cable Aug. 4 during a military exercise.

Charleston AFB officials got the call in the early afternoon Aug. 5 and by 5:15 p.m. a Charleston C-17 was in the air to pick up a Navy deep sea drone at Andrews AFB, Md.

A 14th Airlift Squadron aircrew, led by Maj. James Schueler Jr., aircraft commander, was tasked to fly to Maryland, pick up the Navy rescue equipment and continue to McChord AFB, Wash., where a McChord aircrew would take the Charleston C-17 to its final destination, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia. The Charleston aircraft arrived in Russia about 18 hours after taking off from South Carolina.

Joining Major Schueler were Capt. Bradley Rueter, copilot; Tech. Sgt. Mike Rodgers, loadmaster; Senior Airman Craig White, loadmaster; and Senior Airman Robby Carson, a flying crew chief from the 437th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Barracuda Aircraft Maintenance Unit.

Elsewhere, a Mississippi Air National Guard C-17 rushed rescue equipment nonstop to Russia, and a C-5 from Travis AFB, Calif., picked up Navy personnel and two unmanned rescue vehicles from Naval Air Station North Island, Calif.

In a race against time to save the stranded Russian sailors, the Charleston aircrew understood the importance of their mission.

This is a time-critical situation, said Sergeant Rodgers from Greeleyville, S.C. We are going to get to Russia as fast as possible to save those sailors.

After the Charleston C-17 and other AMC aircraft arrived in Russia, a British remote-controlled vehicle cut away undersea cables that had trapped the Russian submarine. The vessel then surfaced on its own power and all seven sailors were in satisfactory condition.

Team Charleston is always ready to do any mission, any time, anywhere, said Major Schueler, a native of Brunswick, Ga. This mission shows the C-17s capabilities of being uniquely qualified to go halfway around the world in a matter of hours.

 

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