Dyess C-130s help evacuate LA residents

NEW ORLEANS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT-- Hurricane Gustav evacuees await take off in a 317th Airlift Group C-130 from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, August 31. Four C-130s and aircrews from Dyess AFB helped evacuate more than 6,500 New Orleans residents and more than 700 hospital patients. The evacuees were sent to different cities in Tennessee where relief teams were awaiting their arrival with food, water and shelter. (U.S. Air Force photo/ Senior Airman Jennifer Romig)

Dyess C-130s help evacuate LA residents

NEW ORLEANS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT-- Senior Airman Sheldon Cary, a 39th Airlift Squadron loadmaster from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, directs hurricane evacuees onto a C-130, August 31. Dyess AFB C-130s and aircrews evacuated more than 400 residents that had no other means of transportation to reach a safer area. The evacuees were sent to different cities in Tennessee where relief teams were awaiting their arrival with food, water and shelter. (U.S. Air Force photo/ Senior Airman Jennifer Romig)

Gustav

NEW ORLEANS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT-- Senior Airman Sheldon Cary, a 39th Airlift Squadron loadmaster from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, waits for an engine check as Hurricane Gustav pounds New Orleans with the first rainfall, August 31. Four C-130s and aircrews from Dyess evacuated more than 400 local residents and critically ill patients from local hospitals. The evacuees were sent to different cities in Tennessee where relief teams were awaiting their arrival with food, water and shelter. (U.S. Air Force photo/ Senior Airman Jennifer Romig)

317th AG helps evacuate residents, patients in hurricane's path

Published Sept. 3, 2008
By Capt. Will Powell
7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs

DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- -- As most Dyess Airmen enjoyed a four-day weekend in celebration of Labor Day, much of the 317th Airlift Group was busy preparing to send airplanes and aircrews to the Gulf Coast to help evacuate residents in the path of Hurricane Gustav.

Four Dyess C-130s and aircrews eventually were sent early Sunday morning to New Orleans, and they transported approximately 400 evacuees and hospital patients to safety, just hours before Gustav made landfall.

By early Monday, the Air Force had moved more than 6,500 people, including more than 700 patients, to safer locations farther inland and away from the hurricane's dangerous storm surges, flooding and damaging winds.

According to Col. Bernard Mater, 317th AG commander, the group did an exceptional job - from the maintainers who worked long hours over the weekend preparing the jets to the 24 aircrew members who flew the missions - that no doubt saved countless lives.

Capt. Philip Domke, 39th Airlift Squadron pilot and member of the hurricane mission, said the evacuees were overwhelmingly grateful for the help to reach safer ground, and he was happy to assist.

"I've had the opportunity to do this overseas and now it was my chance to do it state-side," he said. "It was a good feeling. It was great to help our fellow Americans."
Captain Domke said as soon as the squadron received word that they may be needed for the missions, "people were volunteering left and right," despite losing their long weekend.

"This is what we do, what we train for," he said. "And we're happy to do it."

The colonel said the next step is waiting to hear what equipment and relief supplies may need flown into the area, and when they can start bringing the evacuees back home. They're also standing ready to assist in preparation for the next few hurricanes and storms already brewing in the Atlantic.

"Air Mobility Command and the 317th Airlift Group are always ready and willing to assist - at home or abroad - to save lives and alleviate human suffering in the aftermath of any natural disaster or other crisis," said Colonel Mater. "If there's a [317th AG] need to do something for Hurricane Hannah, we'll be there for America."