Citius, Altius, Fortius

A C-130H crew from the Royal Australian Air Force supported the fledgling Iraqi Olympic movement by airlifting the entire Iraqi Olympic team from Baghdad last August to meet connecting flights into Athens. Iraq's soccer team later advanced to the bronze medal competition. The RAAF C-130 Hercules detachment currently in the Middle East consists of about 150 personnel with two transport aircraft, ground crew, and other support elements. The 36 Squadron C-130 crews have flown more than 630 missions in their first eighteen months and transported almost 14,900 passengers, including almost 1,000 medical patients and more than 13.3 million pounds of cargo.