This article is provided
courtesy of Stars & Stripes, which
got its start as a newspaper for Union troops
during the Civil War, and has been published
continuously since 1942 in Europe and 1945
in the Pacific. Stripes reporters have
been in the field with American soldiers,
sailors and airmen in World War II, Korea,
the Cold War, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Bosnia
and Kosovo, and are now on assignment in the
Middle East.
Stars and Stripes has one of the widest distribution
ranges of any newspaper in the world. Between
the Pacific and European editions, Stars
& Stripes services over 50 countries
where there are bases, posts, service members,
ships, or embassies.
Related Links:
Current
Archive
Stars
& Stripes Website
Sound
off in our Discussion Boards
Have an opinion on the issues discussed in
this article? Sound off.
Get
Breaking Military News Alerts
|
|
|
|
September 8, 2004
[Have an opinion about the issues discussed in this article?
Sound
off in our Discussion Boards.]
By Charlie Coon,
Stars and Stripes European Edition
STUTTGART, Germany — The hostage siege in Russia had been blaring
on the newscasts; now pictures of bloody children were being shown
on TV.
Hundreds of people were killed and nearly 800 were wounded or dying.
“Everyone here watches the news and keeps up … and realizes,” said
Army
Maj. Leah Erwin of the U.S. European Command’s logistics directorate,
or J-4. “Now the thinking is, ‘I wonder how we could respond to
this or whether or not we will.’ ”
They would. Thirty-six hours after the phone rang at Erwin’s office
asking for EUCOM’s help, two planes loaded with medical supplies
took off to Russia from Germany for victims of what some call Russia’s
9/11.
The supplies — medicine and equipment to treat burn and trauma
victims — were needed after suspected Chechen rebels apparently
herded students and faculty into a bomb-rigged gymnasium on Sept.
1. The gym exploded on Friday after Russian troops entered the building.
Some U.S. troops who were working over the Labor Day weekend expected
to be called to help.
“Other than in the middle of New York City or Chicago or maybe
Moscow, nobody in the world could have absorbed the kind of casualties
they took,” said Army Col. Edward Huycke, EUCOM’s command surgeon.
“So help would have been necessary for anybody.”
The Russians had requested through the U.S. State Department a
very specific list of needs and the list was sent to EUCOM.
They’d asked for blood substitutes and blood-testing equipment,
anti-depressants for hysterical victims and family members, and
anti-convulsants to help prevent the injured from going into shock.
They needed special beds for burn victims, burn ointments and
intravenous fluids, X-ray machines, and blankets and sheets to keep
people warm.
Soldiers at Rhine Ordnance Barracks in Kaiserslautern were keeping
track of the story.
“It was sad to watch,” said Army Sgt. Gloria Newland of the 251st
Cargo Transfer Company.
Newland was phoned Sunday evening and told that soldiers from the
251st and the 29th Support Group would be needed to move the supplies
from the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Command Europe in nearby Pirmasens
to the airplanes at Ramstein, and to assemble and load the pallets.
At Pirmasens, about 35 troops, civilians and local nationals rounded
up ointments, bandages and drugs. Technicians tested medical equipment
such as vital-signs monitors to make sure it would work in Russia.
Air
Force Master Sgt. Edward Grantham of USAMMCE said he was struck
by the teamwork.
“Trucks got here on time, trucks left on time, people were waiting
on the pad and the cargo got palletized,” Grantham said. “It was
a phenomenal mission in a short, compact amount of time.”
Workers loaded three 40-foot trucks from the 251st Cargo Transport
and another from USAMMCE, and early Monday morning they convoyed
the 30 miles north to Ramstein.
Soldiers and airmen then built 63 pallets of supplies — about 35,000
pounds worth — and loaded them onto the awaiting C-130s. Two crews
from the 38th Airlift Squadron boarded the planes and left for Russia
at about 7:30 a.m. Monday.
Losing a long Labor Day weekend did not enter the troops’ minds.
“Being in the military, you’re on call all the time,” said Air
Force Master Sgt. Jon Janson of the 435th Air Base Wing’s Public
Affairs Office, who flew to Russia with about the 25 airmen. “If
you know you’re going to be helping and hopefully save lives, it
wouldn’t make a difference what day it was.”
USAMMCE has been busy helping keep medical supplies in stock at
nearby Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
Army Col. Thomas Brown, the USAMMCE commander, said the Labor Day
mission to Russia took on a different urgency.
“All of us were aware of the disaster at the school in Russia,”
said Brown. “When any of us realize there are children involved,
I think it adds to our desire.”
 Email
this page to friends
©2004 Stars & Stripes. All opinions
expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily
reflect those of Military.com.
|
