By Brig. Gen. Rowayne A. Schatz, Jr.
314th Airlift Wing commander
Hurricane Ike changed the lives of many residents in Texas cities such as Galveston and Houston. Lives were lost, homes were destroyed and thousands of people were displaced from their communities. However, thanks to lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, the skilled readiness and preparation of city, state, and federal organizations, the casualties caused by Hurricane Ike were minimized. I’m proud to say that Team Little Rock played a major role in this success.
The Rock led the way with hurricane relief assistance when we deployed C-130s from the 314th Airlift Wing, the 463rd Airlift Group and the 189th Airlift Wing to perform aeromedical missions to evacuate Texans before Hurricane Ike made landfall last weekend. Team Little Rock’s active duty, guard, and reserve Airmen teamed up to deploy aeromedical evacuation teams to provide in-flight emergency medical care for patients from the disaster area, and critical care air transport teams – known as “the ICU on an aircraft.”
Not only did we send our Airmen, we served as the hub for all aeromedical operations during Hurricane Ike. There’s no way to tell how many lives were saved because of your preparedness and your skill to execute the mission anytime, anywhere. If there is a silver lining to the dark cloud of Hurricane Ike, it’s that Combat Airlifters proved to the world once again that we are truly the world’s best, and ready to weather any storm that comes our way.
Another way we can look to assist people and organizations is through the 2008 Combined Federal Campaign. I encourage you to support your favorite organizations and team up to make 2008 another successful year! Last year was a record breaking year for the Air Education and Training Command’s CFC. The realization is that our contributions make a difference in the lives of many of our friends and neighbors, and strengthens our community. The CFC is our way to give back and help out each and every Airman – active duty, reserve, guard and civilian. The mission doesn’t get done without our people healthy and happy, and the CFC goes a long way to ensuring those needs are met.
The Little Rock Air Force Base Community Council joined us to celebrate the Air Force’s 61st birthday during their third quarter general membership meeting held Thursday at Hangar 1080. We were thrilled to welcome back Air Force Personnel Center commander Maj. Gen. K.C. McClain to the Rock as the guest speaker for the event. General McClain was the 314th Support Group Commander from April 1997 to June 1998, so it was somewhat of a homecoming as she talked about our Air Force heritage as we celebrated the Air Force’s birthday.
Just like our Airman’s Creed says, “we are faithful to a proud heritage, a tradition of honor and a legacy of valor.” By remembering the pioneers who made our Air Force what it is today, we honor our tradition, and by adapting to new challenges like our support of Hurricane Ike, we build upon that tradition and continue our legacy of serving with courage and valor. We carry the torch passed to us by our predecessors, and we carry it well.
Combat Airlift!
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