MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- McChord Airmen left
for Russia’s Pacific coast Aug. 6 to support a submarine rescue
mission near the Kamchatka peninsula.
Air Mobility Command was called upon to assist in the rescue effort
to save seven Russian sailors who had been stranded aboard the mini
submarine, an AS-28. The AS-28 became entangled with an underwater cable
during a military exercise Aug. 4 and ultimately sank about 600 feet
below the ocean surface.
AMC quickly generated several airlift and air refueling missions to
aid in the rescue, including a C-17 crew from Charleston Air Force Base,
S.C. The crew flew to Andrews AFB, Md., where a deep sea drone and U.S.
Navy crew were picked up. The aircraft continued to McChord where Airmen
prepared for a quick crew change.
Four pilots, two loadmasters and a maintainer were notified of the
tasking and arrived at McChord’s One-Stop just before 2 a.m. Saturday.
They immediately began planning their mission, which was to transport
the crew and drone to the rescue site as soon as possible.
“Let’s get going! Let’s get out there!” said Airman Nelson,
expressing her thoughts once she was notified about the mission. As a
loadmaster, she was responsible for getting the drone off of the C-17
once they arrived in Russia.
“We never expect to do these kinds of things, but on the other
hand, we’re always prepared,” said Lt. Col. Chad Manske, 62nd
Operations Group deputy commander. “We always have our crew ready, and
we always have our aircraft ready. So when this pops up, we can deliver
our air mobility assets to the location very quickly.”
The C-17 took off from McChord around 5 a.m. and landed in Anchorage,
Alaska, a few hours later.
“The original plan was to fly directly to Russia,” said aircraft
commander Major Trzaskoma.
However, the major said the crew was flying into an unfamiliar air
field where mountains rose up to 11,000 feet. To ensure the trip would
be successful, the C-17 landed in Alaska to refuel.
“While we were in Alaska, we received a message that we needed to
bring a medical team and some food,” Major Trzaskoma said.
After refueling the C-17, loading food and bringing medical personnel
onboard, the crew was in the air again and on its way to Russia.
Meanwhile, other nearby international rescue teams were already
underway untangling the AS-28. One hour before reaching Russia, the
McChord crew received word that the AS-28 had surfaced and all seven
members aboard had survived. With the help of U.S. Navy divers, a
British remotely operated vehicle successfully cut the submarine free on
Aug. 7.
The McChord crew proceeded to unload the cargo in Russia and
continued to Japan to rest. It had been 24 hours from the time the crew
left McChord. A few hours later, they boarded the C-17 again for their
return trip home. (Air Force Print News and Armed Forces Press Service
contributed to this story.)