"Forgotten" Missions Bring Succor To Pakistani, Filipino Disaster Victims

By Aero-News Senior Correspondent Kevin R.C. "Hognose" O'Brien

Marines break things and hurt people. Navy Structural Mechanics fix shipboard aircraft. Seabees build airfields and fortifications; Army helicopters sweep troops into and out of combat. That's the conventional wisdom about the US military machine; and there's little reporting about it, until somebody dies in Iraq.

Pakistan: Region Wracked By Earthquake

Here's another side of our fighting airmen: bringing relief to the disaster-stricken citizens of friendly foreign nations. In the first photo (above) Marines snap a slingload of emergency food onto the central cling hook of an Army CH-47 Chinook, under the watchful eye of the copter's crew chief. It takes a lot of skill to hold the big machine in a low hover in the dusty conditions -- and a lot of trust for the Marines to go underneath to do their job.

The US and other nations are supporting Pakistan's relief efforts in a region that remains devastated by last October's earthquake. These slingloaded supplies may mean life itself to people who still can't be reached by road.

While the helicopters bring supplies, Navy Seabee Nathan Luetjen bulldozes a precarious, unsafe building. Navy Mobile Construction Battalion 4, Luetjen's unit, sent a detachment of men and equipment into the rugged, mountainous area, where the only way to move is by helicopter. 

Philippines: Village Destroyed By Landslide

In the Philippines, Marines Staff Sgt. Jimmy Wheeler (right) and Cpl. Joe Rainey of the 31st MEU take supplies from a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter and stack them (below).  The Marines are pitching in to help the people of Guinsaugon village on Leyte Island recover from a Feb. 17 landslide.

During that same mission, Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Reginald Davidson tries to cheer up a young landslide survivor with a toy. Over fifty sailors and Marines like Davidson, Wheeler and Rainey came ashore to help clean up a schoolhouse in St. Bernard where homeless villagers from the devastated town of Guinsaugon are now staying, and to hand out donated necessities.  Davidson is a Navy aviation structural mechanic aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2). Essex is the fifth ship to bear that name in the US Navy, following in the tradition of an illustrious frigate of the War of 1812 and a celebrated aircraft carrier of World War II.

Essex projects her power through the Marine Air Combat Element, including Harrier STOVL fighters and several types of helicopters. In the last photo, one of the Marines' elderly Boeing CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters of Marine Air Combat Element 262 safely returns to Essex, and air and ground crew cooperate to bring the helicopter safely aboard. Sikorsky CH-53E Sea Stallions also participated in the relief mission, delivering relief supplies and digging equipment.

(All photos DOD official. Aero-News salutes [in order] Tech Sgt. Joseph McLean, USAF, PO2 James Godown, USN, Cpl. Justin Park, USMC, and Airman Christian L. Lemus, USN)

FMI: www.dod.mil  www.essex.navy.mil