"Santa" Comes Early for People of St. Vincent, Grenadines

  • Published
  • By Capt. Heather Garrett
  • 403rd Wing Public Affairs
KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, MISS. --  Tis the season of giving and that sentiment was executed by a 403rd Wing C-130J crew during a last-minute humanitarian mission to the Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Nov. 13.
 
"This mission arose, like a phoenix, out of the ashes of a routine cross-country flight initially destined for Columbus Air Force Base (in Miss.) to support an Undergraduate Flight Training career day," said Lt. Col. Louis Patriquin, 403rd Operations Group commander. "Four days prior to the scheduled career day we learned there would be two C-130Js at the event, hardly an efficient use of Air Force assets."

Members of the 403rd OG were tasked to find a different training opportunity in order to best use the aircraft and aircrew. There are many organizations that provide training opportunities for flying operations; one such organization is Denton Cargo. Denton Cargo is an Air Mobility Command supported organization, located at Charleston AFB, that works directly with other government and non-government organizations to move humanitarian cargo throughout the world.

"The good folks at Denton inform wings on a weekly basis as to what they have available that is shipment ready," said Colonel Patriquin. "Knowing we had an airplane for three days we poured over our options looking for a match."

The match found was a mission to deliver school supplies and other essential items to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which are a series of islands in the lower Lesser Antilles approximately 150 miles from Venezuela.

Having found a mission that would eliminate the double tasking to Columbus AFB and provide aid to a country in need, the 403rd crew now had to obtain diplomatic clearance to go.

"Appropriate diplomatic clearances generally take two weeks to obtain, time we didn't have," said Lt. Col. Mark Carter, 403rd Operations Support Flight chief of current operations. "Current ops works with in-house and outside agencies to schedule and efficiently coordinate the use of our C-130Js."

Due to the relationships cultivated over the years with Air Force Reserve Command, Southern Command, Air Force North Headquarters and Denton Cargo, current operations was able to work with the U.S. Embassy in Barbados to obtain Diplomatic Clearance for the mission in just two days.

"The efforts of everyone involved to obtain in two days what normally takes 14 were awesome and speak highly of how agile minds can generate great things, especially when time is of the essence," said Colonel Patriquin.

Providing humanitarian support to St. Vincent and the Grenadines was crucial, as the nation suffers from high poverty and unemployment rates, and had recently been impacted by Hurricane Tomas.

"Thank you for the exceptional effort by everyone at the 403rd to get this cargo to St. Vincent in such short notice," said Ken Hundemer, Denton Operations. "These folks are most appreciative of your support, and everything sent will go to good use."

The seven-ton cargo load was assembled by the Good News Project, a non-profit organization that collects and assists in coordinating delivery of humanitarian supplies and support to the underprivileged in the West Indies.

"We've had a presence on the island for 25 years," said Christine Daniels, Good News Project executive director. "It means everything to our organization to use the Denton (Cargo) program and I have the utmost respect for the military personnel that take on these missions; thank you for what you do."

Humanitarian airlift, as with any mission, takes a lot of time, coordination and effort by the individuals and organizations involved.

"Hats off to the team, and total-force 815th and 345th aircrew and maintainers who were able to pull off a great thing in minimal time, safely," said Colonel Patriquin. "It can be difficult to do a great thing, but the benefits always outweigh the work to get it done."