The airmen in the 79th Rescue Squadron were eager to help the victims of the earthquake that struck Haiti on Tuesday.
Once they received their opportunity, they wasted no time making an impact.
The rescue squadron, based at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, was on its way to the devastated country within five hours after receiving the call Wednesday afternoon.
And it was only a matter of minutes - eight to be exact- after landing in Haiti before they were in the sky heading back to the United States.
During that span, the squadron dropped off more than 13,000 pounds of military vehicles and equipment they picked up at Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina, said Lt. Col. Michael Hinsch, the squadron's operations director.
The squadron had been training at the North Carolina base with another unit when that unit was activated to assist the relief effort, Hinsch said.
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The 79th Rescue Squadron was assigned to transport the other unit's equipment and six of its personnel from Pope, he said. "We were able to give them a ride," he said.
Some of the equipment that came along for the ride included a Humvee, dirt bikes and off-road four-wheel vehicles.
The unit from Pope will conduct airfield operations, which include helping repair the airfield in Port-au-Prince.
The 11 members of the 79th Rescue Squadron went back to a naval base in Key West, Fla. and were awaiting their next orders, he said.
"All of my guys want to go help," he said. "All of us are standing ready to do what's asked of us."
Contact reporter Jamar Younger at 573-4115 or jyounger@azstarnet.com
