Tsunami Relief

The Air Force and the Navy are stepping up in a BIG way... from the AFA's Daily Report:

Airmen Press On with Japan Relief Efforts: The Air Force has delivered 107.5 tons of relief supplies and emergency equipment to Japan since last week's earthquake and tsunami pummeled northern Japan. USAF tankers have offloaded more than 29,900 gallons of fuel to keep the aerial lifeline going, reported the Wall Street Journal, citing Air Mobility Command sources. Five days after tides raced across the tarmac at Japan's Sendai Airport at the tsunami's epicenter on March 11, special tactics airmen from Kadena Air Base on Okinawa succeeded in clearing the airport's runway for use as a staging area, with an MC-130H making the first landing on Wednesday. HH-60 crews flying from Yokota Air Base near Tokyo aided in establishing a forward refueling area at Yamagata Airfield near the disaster zone to facilitate the quick turnaround of US and Japanese search and rescue helicopters. While aiding the Japanese, Yokota and Misawa Air Base are still recovering from the earthquake. C-130 and C-17 airlifters earlier this week delivered 19 generators to Misawa to restore power there. (See our earlier coverage) (AFPS report by Cheryl Pellerin) (Kadena release) (Kadena report by TSgt. Aaron Cram) (Yokota release)

From the linked American Forces Press Services release:

WASHINGTON, March 16, 2011 – Fourteen U.S. Navy ships and their aircraft and 17,000 sailors and Marines are now involved in the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts in Japan, a Defense Department spokesman said here today.

Marine Corps Col. Dave Lapan said the military effort has included 113 helicopter sorties and 125 fixed-wing sorties, moving people and supplies, helping in search and rescue efforts, and delivering 129,000 gallons of water and 4,200 pounds of food.

The USS Tortuga, with heavy-lift MH-53 helicopters aboard, has completed loading 273 Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force troops, 93 vehicles and equipment for delivery tomorrow in Onimato, he said.

The USS Blue Ridge, the command ship for Navy Vice Adm. Scott R. Van Buskirk, commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet, is scheduled to arrive tomorrow and is expected to remain in the area, Lapan said.

The USS Essex, USS Harpers Ferry and the USS Germantown -- with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard -- “will remain on the western side [of Honshu] rather than transit around to the east because of the at-sea debris field and the radiation hazard,” he added.

The hazard was created by tsunami damage to reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Some Navy airmen and sailors participating in relief missions off the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan were exposed in the past few days to low-level radiation, and 17 crew members underwent decontamination procedures, Lapan said.

The Reagan and its escort ships have moved north, but remain in the vicinity, he said.

I laughed last year when the Navy changed their motto from whatever it used to be ("Row, Row, Row Yer Boat?") to the current "A Global Force For Good." I'm thinkin' no one in northeast Japan is laughing at that motto this week. This is yet another case of the US military stepping up... within hours... to help the unfortunate of the world, no matter where they may be. We're like that.