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Gen. Mike Minihan, Commander of Air Mobility Command, visits the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station June 8, 2024.

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Reserve/Guard aircrew work together to bring aid to the Haitian people

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Peter Borys
  • 914th AW/PA
NIAGARA FALLS AIR RESERVE STATION, N.Y. --  Local Western New York Media as well as others were anxiously waiting for the latest news from a C-130 crew who were returning after a five-day mission shuttling supplies, military personnel, and evacuees in and out of Haiti.
The crew of 16 was made up of 914th Airlift Wing AFRC (Air Force Reserve Command) and 107th Airlift Wing NYANG (New York Air National Guard) personnel.
Soon after the crew landed a press conference was set up and four of those individuals; Capt. Rich Konopczynski, pilot, Technical Sgt. Rich Ackley, flight engineer, both of the 914th AW and Capt. Justin Pautler pilot and Staff Sgt. Brian Waite flight engineer of the 107th AW were bombarded with many questions from the local media about their mission, impressions and personal experiences this past week in Haiti.
"Images of the children. That's what will stay with us," said Capt. Konopczynski . "We took some of the supplies we had and gave it to the kids, candies and some food, but the mothers gripping their children is what will stay with me personally." He added, "It was hard to see the people and not think of your own family. A lot of them were devastated by what had happened. They were thankful for what we were doing."
The crews departed Niagara on the 16th of January at 7 a.m. just four days after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the island nation and arrived late that night in Port-Au-Prince. Twenty hour work days were not uncommon.
All members of both airlift wings; Guard and Reserve worked side by side in what is now named Operation Unified Response, designed to address post-earthquake needs. From the crew of 16, two crew chiefs were left behind at Pope AFB N.C. to support ongoing operations.
Capt. Justin Pautler 107th AW, said that his mission arrived at night. "Most of the lights in the city were out except for the airport. It seems like electricity is still a problem there." Tech. Sgt. Brian Waite, a flight engineer with the 107th, said they had to circle for more than an hour before it could land at the airport on the first night of their mission.
The airmen who returned, described arriving to a "controlled chaos" at the Haiti airport, which was filled with dozens of planes and people from at least two dozen countries. Large crowds waited to leave the country. The first few missions were primarily women and children evacuees.
Tech. Sgt. Rich Ackley, Flight Engineer of the 914th AW said, "The second night was kind of like, these people are hanging on, just barely hanging, so it was kind of an intense mission to get it done."
"The first thing that we would notice would be how exhausted the people were, said Konopczynski . They were very quiet, but once we extended a hand to them and offered them drinks and some food you could see that they warmed up and started to get a little more comfortable."
The aircraft departed from Port-Au- Prince Airport and flew the evacuees to Homestead AFB, Fla. near Miami. Once there, the evacuees were treated at medical facilities on base, given food and drinks and in processed by customs officials.
When asked about reports of criticism that the U.S. and other countries did not act fast enough to deal with this disaster, Capt Konopczynski responded by saying, "I say were bringing to bear the greatest Air Force on the planet and I didn't see any roadblocks that prevented us from doing our job. I'd say we've done the best job that we could."