Contingency response wing takes baby steps around the world

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Matthew Rosine
  • Air Force Print News
MCGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. (AFPN) --  Helping the relief victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and Pakistan’s earthquake disaster were its baby steps.

The infant is the 621st Contingency Response Wing, which celebrated its first birthday on Monday, March 6, 2006 at a ceremony in its contingency response warehouse.

“Each person here is a mobility Swiss Army knife,” said Col. Bob Ranck, the wing’s commander.

He said it was a challenging year because the wing had successfully accomplished multiple missions that needed to be done every day.

“The real impact here is that we have accelerated the development of the mobility mission -- the air-base opening mission. I am the most proud of our guys working so hard, especially our junior enlisted,” he said.

The “Devil Raiders” mission is to provide highly skilled and rapidly deployable expeditionary combat teams that can quickly open forward contingency air bases and extend the Air Force global reach support capabilities.

To help ensure the mission’s success, the unit stays in top form.

“Training is a really big thing here because we are still new at this and still have a lot of work to do,” said Senior Airman Jason Reid, an air transportation journeyman with the 818th Global Mobility Squadron. He has been with the unit since February 2003 when it was the 621st Air Mobility Operations Group.

“We are always doing more training, more schooling -- it’s critical. When we go out that door we have to be complete contingency-response professionals,” he said.

This training has paid off for the wing, which utilized its expert skills on more than 525 hurricane relief missions. The wing transported more than 32,760 passengers -- 25,578 of them between Aug. 31 and Sept. 11. They also processed 2,745 short-tons of cargo and loaded 158 semi-trucks.

“I knew when I got here that one of our missions was to deploy to help people,” said Airman 1st Class Carmelo Quetell, an 819th Global Support Squadron air transportation apprentice. “We always prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Katrina was my first deployment, and I was just amazed to see things happen.”

Pakistani earthquake relief operations tested the wing’s rapid-response capability.

“Being one of the first people there to help people was very gratifying,” said Tech. Sgt. Daniel Botello, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the 818th’s aerial port flight. “At first, the people there didn’t have a positive perception of Americans. There were some challenges to overcome like language barriers. But, they changed their views about Americans when they discovered that we really just wanted to help.”

And, the wing did help. While in Pakistan, they supported 273 U.S. missions. They provided 15,294,000 pounds of relief supplies, which included more than 93,000 sleeping bags and 292,000 blankets. The wing also loaded 587 trucks and processed 4,481 pallets.

“It’s always nice to be able to help people out,” Sergeant Botello said. “But, the best part was being able to actually provide people in real need with the things they needed most when they needed them.”

Sergeant Botello was one of many Airmen who flew the supplies via helicopter to the relief areas. He and other Airmen personally distributed supplies to the Pakistani people with the help of Pakistan army soldiers. Once these supplies were delivered, they would bring about 60 to 70 patients, many of them women and children, back for medical treatment.

“When we were deployed, it was gut wrenching to see the devastation and how it affected people,” said Senior Airman Chris Casey, an 819th air transportation journeyman. “The bottom line is that we are here to help people -- people, not an aircraft -- not some big inanimate hunk of metal sitting over there. We are affecting people’s lives for the better. What we do is tough but when you stop and think about it. Someone could have died without our help.”

As the wing celebrates its first birthday, it is still preparing for the future.

“The national weather service is saying that the next 10 years will be the worst hurricane seasons ever,” Colonel Ranck said. “So even if we never did another war we will be busy staying ready to provide our services here. Natural disasters will never stop, and unfortunately I don’t think wars will either. But whatever the mission, when we get the call, we’ll be ready.”

The wing was created March 1, 2005, and makes its home at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J.