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58th AS supports South American humanitarian missions

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Kenneth W. Norman
  • 97th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. --  More than a year after a major earthquake devastated Haiti, members of the 58th Airlift Squadron from Altus Air Force Base, Okla., delivered 10 pallets of food and building material to Port-au-Prince, Haiti and seven pallets of food to Managua, Nicaragua in support of humanitarian aid operations Feb. 19-20.

"We got to actually go out and do a mission," said Maj. Matthew C. Martin, 58th Airlift Squadron pilot and mission commander. "That is what we do [at Altus] - train people to do the mission. So to get the opportunity to go out and do a mission ourselves and make sure we are still teaching correctly is one of the reasons we do this."

Both deliveries were made possible through the Denton Program.

The Denton Amendment is a commodities transportation program  jointly administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of State, and the Department of Defense. It allows for the transportation of humanitarian goods on a space available basis using U.S. military transportation. The program was initially created to use the extra space on U.S. cargo aircraft that were flying supplies into Central America.

The crew took off from Joint Base Charleston Feb. 19 and headed for Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Ten pallets were offloaded and picked up by Haitian citizens and American volunteers from the Apostolic Christian World Relief program.

When the crew arrived in Haiti, there were about 10 people waiting to help unload cargo. Some were Port-au-Prince Airport employees and others were from the Foundation Bethel d'Haiti, a local organization that builds infrastructure and delivers food to those in need.

"This was a great opportunity for us to do both our training mission, as well as provide humanitarian aid," Major Martin said. "It is great for the U.S. to be providing assistance to those who need it."

After a brief crew rest at JB Charleston, they off for Managua, Nicaragua Feb. 20. The seven pallets of food from the World Mission Outreach Center were offloaded and the crew then returned to JB Charleston.

Evidence of the January 2010 earthquake are still evident in the piles of rubble and camps with dozens of tents seen in Haiti.

"We delivered 26 tons of building materials and food to Haiti and 24 tons of food to Nicaragua," said Tech. Sgt. Jim A. Hader, 58th AS loadmaster.