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Fame’s Favored Few Provides Humanitarian Relief

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jesenia Landaverde
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  Airmen assigned to Fairchild Air Force Base’s 92nd Air Refueling Wing provided cargo humanitarian relief to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Anderson Air Base, Guam, and Wake Island, in support of a shortage of supplies caused by the Novel Coronavirus disease 2019, Nov. 3-8.

Due to the pandemic, Travis AFB, California, a major cargo hub for the pacific region, has experienced an increase in demand for supplies distribution support. Their team reached out to Fairchild AFB leadership for cargo support to islands in the pacific and Fame’s Favored Few rose to the occasion.

Over the span of a week, aircrews from Fairchild enabled the movement of humanitarian supplies, making them one of many delivery support functions within AMC. Fairchild’s role multiplied cargo carriers cutting down on invaluable delivery time.

“Because of the support provided by Fairchild aircrews, we’ve moved water, rations and hazardous materials,” said Staff Sgt. Billie Smith, JBPHH 735th Air Mobility Squadron transportation craftsman. “This helped alleviate our back log and buildup of cargo and supplies. By requesting support from Fairchild supplements, we were able to keep our mission at regular pace. We are now back on track.”

Fairchild Airmen have supported this ongoing mission since September, and to date have delivered 30 pallets, equaling 45,000 pounds of high-priority cargo. While the demand continues, Fairchild Airmen understand supporting sister wings ultimately contributes to the success of the Air Force mission.

“We are limited to certain locations with our aircraft here at Travis, but thanks to Fairchild and the KC-135 Stratotanker community we are able to carry that mission out,” said Senior Airman Derrick Pohl, Travis AFB 60th Aerial Port Squadron capability forecaster. “We hope to continue this relationship down the road.”

On top of providing important humanitarian aid, cargo training was also conducted training for Fairchild aircrew members.

“Not only are we supporting the mission to help others but we are training our boom operators on cargo operations,” said Master Sgt. Justin Yow, 92nd ARS operations superintendent. “This training was a great success for our boom operators and pilots; they learned negotiating procedures while flying over an unfamiliar airfield and now boom operators have the experience of loading and unloading cargo.”

Fairchild has provided for the nation’s defense for more than seventy years. Fame’s Favored Few will continue executing cargo missions to expand global reach, going beyond the typical area of day-to-day operations and training. That ability to go above and beyond allows aircrews to apply lessons learned and continue supporting humanitarian missions in real-world applications.

“We’re supporting General [Charles Q.] Brown’s and Chief [Master Sgt. JoAnne S.] Bass’ message of career field training focus, which needs to be centered in meeting the mission requirements in the pacific region,” Yow said. “Our leaders at Fairchild are taking the opportunity to train aircrews to become a force multiplier in our mission and provide global reach to America.”