Less than 48 hours after Peru requested flood aid from the U.S., airmen from Arkansas were on the ground -- or more precisely in the air.
Two C-130 Hercules aircraft carrying 25 members from Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville flew to Peru April 4 to help transport supplies and personnel to flood-damaged regions of the South American country of more than 30 million people.
Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski greeted the airmen with surprise, said mission commander Lt. Col. Douglas Buchholz.
"He was shocked that within 48 hours of a phone call with President [Donald] Trump we were already there," Buchholz said in a Thursday phone interview from Lima, the country's capital.
Aside from personnel at the U.S. Embassy, the planes and members of Little Rock Air Force Base's 41st and 61st Airlift Squadrons are the only U.S. Department of Defense assets in Peru helping the country recover from the severe flooding that killed about 100 people and displaced 700,000, according to Peruvian government and relief agencies.
Steady rains pounded the country's northern region since January, fueled by a coastal El Nino weather pattern, according to Peruvian meteorologists.
"It's pretty bad," said Staff Sgt. George Childres, a loadmaster deployed to Peru. "The water and flooding is pretty extensive. You can see washed-out roads and farmlands flooded. There's a lot of standing water still."
Damaged infrastructure left many people isolated from vital resources. In their first days there, members of the 41st Airlift Squadron delivered more than 27,900 pounds of supplies to the city of Chiclayo.
The base's team has transported water, food, personnel, portable solar generators, water pumps and water-purification equipment, a base spokesman said.
The U.S. has contributed more than $775,000 in addition to in-kind assistance since disaster-response efforts began, according to an Air Force news release. The Defense Department also donated $270,000 to purchase equipment.
Airmen have faced challenges unloading supplies. In the absence of forklifts and material-handling equipment, they have had to form human chains to offload heavy pallets of supplies.
"We've had to get creative," Childres said. "But I think we've really bonded and come together as a team."
Units from Little Rock Air Force Base have long responded to humanitarian disasters. In recent years, base personnel have deployed to areas affected by Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Matthew.
"Our teams stand ready and able to take on and transport people and/or relief supplies whenever called upon," 19th Airlift Wing spokesman Cheri Dragos-Pritchard said in an email.
Both Childres and Buchholz described the mission as a rewarding experience. They mentioned the hope that they've seen on the faces of flood victims since they arrived.
"They see that American C-130, and it gives them hope every time they see us coming into these airfields," Buchholz said.
Metro on 04/16/2017