Army presents 'Iron Mike' to Air Mobility Command for Haiti airlift support

  • Published
  • By Laura McAndrews
  • Air Mobility Command Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFNS) --  Air Mobility Command Airmen worked hand-in-hand with Army Soldiers to provide much needed relief to since a 7.0 earthquake struck there Jan. 12.

For doing so, Army Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick, the commander of the 18th Airborne Corps, recently presented an Iron Mike statuette to Gen. Raymond E. Johns Jr., the AMC commander, for the support AMC provided in transporting the 82nd Airborne Division into Haiti.

"AMC's effort to deploy the Global Response Force (2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division) and the XVIII Airborne Corps command post was incredible," General Helmick said. "The Airmen, pilots and flight crews were phenomenal, flexible, professional and effective."

The original Iron Mike statue at Fort Bragg, N.C., is of an airborne trooper and has been an iconic symbol honoring the American fighting servicememebers since August 1961. The Fort Bragg trooper stands more than 16 feet tall.

A part of AMC's efforts in Haiti involved transporting Soldiers and equipment from the Global Response Force who were responsible for facilitating security and the distribution of relief supplies in the region.

Providing airlift for the 82nd Airborne deployment took less than seven hours to plan and was executed in only 100 hours, according to AMC officials.

A combination of C-17 Globemaster IIIs and C-130 Hercules aircraft were used to fly the missions, operating out of Pope Air Force Base, N.C.

"The effort to deploy the 82nd Airborne forces took 91 C-17/C-130 loads," said Lt. Col. Mike Kirby, the deputy director of the 618th Tanker Airlift Control Center Mobility Management Directorate. "We were able to deliver all those loads in 100 hours because the Air Mobility Command had people working 24/7 to plan, task and fly these missions. At the same time our Army counterparts were also working around-the-clock to prepare troops and equipment for our flights."

"No other air force in the world comes close to (the U.S. Air Force's) level of expertise and professionalism," General Helmick said. "I was awed by (the AMC Airmen's) performance during an extremely fluid contingency operation. Many Haitian lives were saved because of their actions."

Since relief efforts began, AMC Airmen have been working around the clock, flying more than 357 AMC aircraft into Haiti and moving more than 5,000 people and 8,500 tons of cargo into the country to support Operation Unified Response.

While Haiti operations were in full swing AMC still met 100 percent of its mission requirements in Iraq and Afghanistan.