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MacDill Airman transport humanitarian supplies

  • Published
  • By Staff. Sgt. Jennifer Chamberlin
  • 927 Air Refueling Wing
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Just a few days before Christmas, a team of Airmen from MacDill Air Force Base delivered a special gift. Instead of presents wrapped in colorful paper and ribbon, the gift was over 12,000 pounds of cargo wrapped in plastic and netting. Instead of Santa Claus in a jingle-belled sleigh, a team of seven Airmen in a KC-135 Stratotanker hauled four pallets of humanitarian supplies across the Atlantic Ocean.

Various aid items, including books, educational supplies, and an ultrasound machine were delivered from Joint Base Charleston, S.C., to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where they will await further transportation to their final destination in Afghanistan.

The cargo was delivered via the Denton Program, designed to send humanitarian supplies to all parts of the world using available space on military flights. Founded in 1985, the United States Agency for International Development, the Department of State and the Department of Defense jointly administer the program. In 2010, the program shipped almost two million pounds of humanitarian goods around the world.

This training flight was sponsored by the 927th Air Refueling Wing, and is the wing's first flight to support Denton cargo, said Master Sergeant Bruce Clemmer, 63rd Air Refueling Squadron mission planner. If space is available on a flight and the flight is traveling to a port with humanitarian cargo, flight planners can offer to carry the cargo as far as the mission will allow, Clemmer said.

Colonel David Pavey, the 927th ARW commander, said the effects of such efforts by Airman all over the globe can be far-reaching.

"The benefit is that young children will be able to take advantage of the educational supplies provided by the program, and an educated and informed society is the cornerstone of democracy," Pavey said.

Maj. Christine Stanaback, a 63rd Air Refueling Squadron pilot, said she's happy to help.

"Transporting supplies is just a small part in the link toward making an impact with international communities, but it's a great feeling to know I'm a part of delivering support to people in need," she said.