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517th returns home from tsunami relief mission by Sean Doogan KTUU-TV |
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Anchorage Alaska USA - Another group of Alaskan military has returned home from duty overseas. The men and women of the 517th Airlift Squadron are coming home from South Asia where they worked with disaster relief efforts. Husbands, wives, and children braved the cold this morning to welcome home the new heroes. Just after 8 a.m., the quiet of the Anchorage morning was shattered by the rumble of propellers. One by one, four C-130 cargo planes touched down and taxied across the runway, bringing with them more than 70 airmen returning from aid efforts in Indonesia. "The people who lived at Banda Ache, we were taking them out, back to Jakarta, so they would have a place to actually live, since most of their houses were destroyed," said Tech. Sgt. Kevin Wooley, a flight engineer with the 517th Airlift Squadron. Stationed in Jakarta, the C-130s made the 1,000-mile journey northwest to Banda Aceh each day, as did many of the 4,478 foreign military personnel there to help out. That was quite busy for an area that usually sees only 15 flights a day, allowing many to see that damage from the Dec. 26 tsunami was much worse than it appeared on television. "Like nothing you were prepared for. It was pretty overwhelming," said Tech. Sgt. Kyle Stevens of the 517th Airlift Squadron (left). "The destruction from the coastline in up to over two miles in some places, it just looked like the entire landscape was wiped clean of everything," said Lt. Col. Gary J. Gottschall of the 517th Airlift Squadron. So the crews of the 517th flew long hours ferrying rice, biscuits and powered milk. The Aceh province of Indonesia was ground zero for the tsunami, killing almost 94,000 people there. The destruction had taken its toll on the survivors. "They got on the airplane and most of them just fell sound asleep, cause I'm sure a lot of them were just exhausted," said Stevens. The 517th has been gone since the New Year, but is now back home. The families of these soldiers are glad they're back, but are also proud they went. "It made me feel good knowing that he was going to help," said Kayla Wooley, wife of Sgt. Wooley. As emergency relief efforts turn to long-term recovery tasks, foreign military units are moving out. "The U.N. is starting to take over the effort now," said Gottschall (right). Wooley says the people of Indonesia were very thankful for the 517th's aid. The returning airmen will enjoy the next few days. Most of them are off duty for a while, a reward for their work in a place literally halfway around the world. In total, over the month-long mission the squadron moved 500,000 pounds of supplies, brought back 820 refugees and delivered 160 aid and relief workers to Banda Aceh -- one of the 17,000 islands that form the predominantly Muslim country. |
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Courtesy of MSNBC |
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