Travis Airmen help deliver Coast Guard equipment to assist cleanup efforts in Gulf

by Senior Master Sgt. Ellen L. Hatfield
349th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

5/6/2010 - TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFNS) -- Airmen from Travis Air Force Base partnered with Coast Guard members May 2, to get equipment to the Gulf of Mexico to assist with oil slick cleanup efforts.

Though they normally truck equipment into disaster-stricken locations, the Coast Guard's Pacific Strike Team in California contacted officials from the 349th Air Mobility Wing at Travis AFB to help get equipment there faster.

The C-17 Globemaster III crew included Capt. Adam Walsh, aircraft commander; Maj. Matt Vukich and Capt. David Berry, pilots; and Senior Master Sgt. Charles Speir and Staff Sgt. Tinna Kroll, loadmasters, all assigned to the Reserve's 301st Airlift Squadron; and Staff Sgt. Andrew Baumgart, an active-duty flying crew chief with the 860th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 60th Air Mobility Wing.

"This was a historic event for me," said Coast Guard Lt. J.G. Michael Oubre, of the Gulf Strike Team. "I was there to meet the load, and it was my first experience using a Department of Defense asset for something like this. We usually load our equipment on trucks for transport."

Reserve aerial porters from Travis AFB got to work weighing and palletizing the equipment; 17 pallets in all. According to Lieutenant Oubre, the cargo included 10 reels of inflatable boom, 656 feet each, to be positioned off shore to keep the oil slick from coming ashore. Once they are unrolled and blown up, temporary storage devices suck up the oil. Four of these were in the shipment with a capacity to hold 70,000 gallons of oil.

"For such a short notice tasking, everything went quite smoothly," Captain Walsh said. "Lt. Col. William Wickersham, our 301st Airlift Squadron director of operations, started calling crew members Friday night, as soon as he got the word. He worked tirelessly to assemble a crew. The whole group sprang together to help."

The crew departed Travis AFB May 2, landing at Mobile, Ala.

"It was late at night, on a Saturday, so the radar and tower operators were not there, so it was an uncontrolled airport. There were also some crosswinds, and although it wasn't raining, it was overcast. It was more difficult than we expected. It's nice to know we're having a direct impact on saving whole ecosystems. We don't get to see that all the time."

"We do so many contingency missions, and so little humanitarian, that it is a welcome opportunity," Captain Walsh said. "It is great to be part of the solution."