Getting ready for Rita
BEAUMONT, Texas -- Members of the 433rd Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron worked through the night to transport patients to aircraft waiting to airlift them out of the path of Hurricane Rita. The Reserve unit, from Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, also airlifted two mobile staging facilities to Beaumont and to nearby Port Arthur, Texas. In less than a day and a half, they had helped evacuate more than 6,800 people -- 1,306 of them special-needs patients -- to cities in Texas and elsewhere. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Lance Cheung)