|
The US military sprang into action immediately after Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana on 31 August and expanded efforts after Hurricane Rita struck on the Texas-Louisiana border on 24 September. Approximately 71,000 service members from all branches ultimately supported both efforts.
The Air Force delivered more than 17,300 tons of cargo, evacuated about 2,600 patients by air, and flew more than 55,400 people out of the devastated regions. More than 6,900 survivors were rescued, making the combined hurricane relief efforts the largest Air Force search-and-rescue operations since Vietnam.
 The Air Force deployed a large number of its aircraft — from C-130, C-141, C-17, and C-5 airlifters, to HH-60 search-and-rescue helicopters, to the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. The C-130 played a significant role, with WC-130J Weatherbird crews tracking the storms through the Gulf of Mexico; Air Mobility Command and Navy C-130, Marine Corps KC-130, and Coast Guard HC-130J crews bringing in relief supplies and airlifting injured and displaced people; and the 910th Airlift Wing performing its unique aerial spray mission to combat mosquitoes. The overall combined response to Hurricane Katrina alone was the largest peacetime air operation on US soil.
On 8 October, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake hit Pakistan, and again the US military responded. The death toll is expected to be more than 30,000. Italian C-130J crews arrived with relief supplies on 10 October, and crews from the 517th Airlift Squadron at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, carried out the first airdrop of supplies on 12 October, taking off from Bagram AB, Afghanistan. Crews dropped fourteen pallets of relief supplies totaling approximately 20,000 pounds on that mission. As of 14 October, 140,000 pounds of supplies had been airlifted to Pakistan, with C-17 and C-5 crews later bringing in more supplies and CH-47 helicopters.
|
