Airmen at Philippine exercise provide real world assistance

  • Published
  • By Capt. Ben Alumbaugh
  • 374th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
Airmen from Yokota Air Base, Japan; Andersen Air Force Base, Guam; and Kadena AB, Japan, who were in the Philippines as part of an annual bilateral exercise, are providing real-world humanitarian assistance after mudslides engulfed a village and 1,800 people Feb. 17.

U.S. Pacific Command authorized approximately 5,500 U.S. troops already in the region as part of a bilateral exercise called Balikatan to assist in disaster relief and humanitarian assistance shortly after a mountain overlooking a village in the southern part of Leyte Island in the Philippines disintegrated into mud following two weeks of steady rain.

Yokota’s 36th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, which flies C-130 Hercules, has already transported more than 40 people and several tons of equipment, including a forklift, to be used in the relief efforts.

“First of all, our thoughts are with the families who lost members in the mudslide,” said Lt. Col. Bill Summers, 36th EALS commander. “We are ready to assist along with our sister services in supporting the relief efforts of the Philippine government.”

According to reports, the village is so remote it takes five to six hours to get there from the nearest airport in Leyte’s provincial capitol, Tacloban, which is about 400 miles south of the Philippine capitol of Manila.

“Yokota is the airlift hub of the Pacific, we stand ready and able to get whatever is needed to assist in the effort,” Colonel Summers said. “The 36th trains for all sorts of contingencies and I’m confident we’ll be able to get the much needed supplies and equipment to the affected areas as quickly as possible.” 

In addition to the 36th EALS, the 36th Contingency Response Group from Andersen is providing assistance. The group, which consists of the 736th Security Forces Squadron and 36th Mission Readiness Squadron, deployed to Clark Air Base in early February to open the air base in preparation for the upcoming exercise. 

The group’s mission is to be on 12-hour alert and ready to open an airfield or engage in any other mission as Pacific Air Forces sees fit. In 2005, they assisted with tsunami relief efforts in Southeast Asia, deployed to the Kamchatka Peninsula to aid in the rescue of the trapped Russian submariners and traveled to Mongolia in support of the president’s tour. 

Pararescuemen from the 31st Rescue Squadron at Kadena were also assisting in the relief effort.

Additional Airmen throughout the Pacific theater are gearing up to support as needed. The 15th Airlift Wing at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, which just received its first C-17 Globemaster III Feb. 8, is on alert to deploy their new aircraft and supplies to the region. 

The Hickam C-17 is the first such aircraft to be permanently based outside the U.S. mainland and is jointly flown and maintained by active-duty and Hawaii Air National Guard Airmen. 

The Kenney Warfighting Headquarters, also based at Hickam, is coordinating PACAF’s support to the operation. 

So far, 56 bodies have been found and 906 people are officially listed as missing, but the Philippine National Red Cross fears the numbers of dead will drastically increase, according to reports.

(Senior Master Sgt. Charles Ramey, Kenney Headquarters Public Affairs, contributed to this report.)