By Air Force Tech. Sgt. Seth Bleuer, 194th Wing
KAHULUI, Hawaii -- Air Force Master Sgt. Michelle Kelly, an
airlift manager with the Oregon Air National Guard’s 173rd Fighter Wing, served
as the transportation planner for Tropic Care Maui County 2018, a joint
training mission providing no-cost medical, dental, and vision services to
people living on the Hawaiian Islands of Maui, Molokai and Lanai.
The training mission was held August 11-19.
Kelly has served in the Air National Guard for 18 years. She
lives in Klamath Falls, Oregon, with her husband. She enjoys raising pigs and
horseback riding.
Planning Transportation
For Tropic Care Maui County 2018, Kelly planned all of the
transportation to three different islands for over 350 service members from
several military service branches. Tropic Care Maui County 2018 covers six
different sites on three separate islands that require transportation of
personnel and supplies to and from the sites.
Just before the majority of service members were to travel
to the islands for the start of the mission, Hurricane Hector was moving
through the Pacific, with the possibility of impacting the Hawaiian Islands.
Kelly had to coordinate a contingency plan for travel on the day before the
main body of service members was to arrive.
“The hurricane created a lot of transportation challenges,”
she said. “When you fly military aircraft you have a large amount of people
coming in at the same time and same place, and you can concentrate your
transportation to that one location. Due to the hurricane we had to switch to
commercial air, which meant we had small groups coming in at different times, and
we had to adapt our transportation plan to that which was a huge challenge, but
it worked out.”
Transportation Challenge
The biggest challenge, Kelly said, was redirecting the
flights to Maui.
“Originally, everyone was supposed to fly directly to their
islands at Molokai and Lanai, but due to safety concerns from the hurricane the
decision was made to fly everyone into Maui,” she said. “This meant we had to
move over 40 personnel and an enormous amount of equipment across the island to
a ferry to Lanai.”
Kelly added, “We pieced it together when we could, but the
ferries kept getting canceled due to the weather. It was challenging, but we
made it work. We ran into the same challenge trying to get everyone and their
equipment out to Molokai with their flights. But the aircrew from the Montana
Air National Guard flying the C-130 were absolutely amazing and made it
happen.”
Hurricane Hector moved away from the islands. Tropic Care
participants arrived in Maui on Aug. 9, and were able to travel to their final
clinic sites to prepare to receive patients by August 10. Clinics were able to
open on schedule on Aug. 11.
Tropic Care Maui County 2018 is a joint-service training
mission led by the Air National Guard and supported by members of the Air
Force, Army, Navy Reserve, and Marine Corps Reserve. Tropic Care provides
medical troops and support personnel “hands-on” readiness training to prepare
for future deployments while providing direct and lasting benefits to the
people of Maui, Molokai, and Lanai.
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