Face of Defense: C‑17 Crew Gives Aid to Earthquake Victims

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash., Nov. 4, 2011 — A group of U.S. air­men took to the air to deliv­er human­i­tar­i­an relief sup­plies for vic­tims of the mag­ni­tude 7.2 earth­quake that struck east­ern Turkey Oct. 23.

A C‑17 Globe­mas­ter III crew per­forms pre­flight checks at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., before embark­ing on a Nov. 1, 2011, flight to Turkey to deliv­er human­i­tar­i­an relief sup­plies. U.S. Air Force pho­to Click to enlarge

The five-mem­ber C‑17 Globe­mas­ter III crew, assigned to the 10th Air­lift Squadron here, flew to Turkey Nov. 1 and deliv­ered a 75,000-pound load of tents at Erzu­rum Air­port. “The men and women of McChord are always ready to pro­vide air­lift at a moment’s notice,” said Air Force Maj. Corey Sim­mons, the squadron’s direc­tor of oper­a­tions. “It is an hon­or for the 10th Air­lift Squadron pathfind­ers to pro­vide relief to our great part­ner Turkey in their time of need.” 

Accord­ing to offi­cials at the 618th Tanker Air­lift Con­trol Cen­ter at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., the tents will pro­vide shel­ter to earth­quake sur­vivors as recov­ery efforts con­tin­ue. The tents are six-sided, pyra­mi­dal-shaped shel­ters that can com­fort­ably house up to 10 peo­ple plus their cloth­ing and equipment. 

The tent’s wind‑, mildew- and fire-resis­tant con­struc­tion and mate­ri­als, offi­cials added, ensure the warmth and dry­ness of the occu­pants even in frigid temperatures. 

“Our air­men are focused on pro­vid­ing sup­port at home and around the world at any time,” Sim­mons said. “Rapid glob­al mobil­i­ty is a key to pro­vid­ing assis­tance at times like these.” 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs) 

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