BANGOR – Members of the Maine Air National Guard’s 101st Air Refueling Wing left Sunday morning on a KC-135 tanker loaded with hundreds of gallons of water and medical supplies for a monthlong deployment in the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast.
The 11 members of the wing’s medical group will be part of a joint operation with the Air Force and Army to provide medical and water-quality assistance in Mississippi, Chief Master Sgt. Debbie Smith said Sunday.
The wing’s Security Forces Squadron is on standby and could also be sent south to aid in the relief efforts.
The medical group – made up of doctors, physician’s assistants and public health and bio-environmental engineering specialists – will treat civilians as well as military personnel. They will hand out water and other supplies, Capt. Mark Champagne said Sunday.
Champagne, a public affairs officer for the base, traveled with the group Sunday to Camp Shelby, Miss., a Jacksonville base located 120 miles from the coast.
“You would not know that it was that close to a disaster area,” he said by phone from the Bangor base after returning Sunday evening.
Dehydrated victims
Later Sunday, the group was to go to two undisclosed locations in Mississippi, expecting to treat people who’ve lost their homes and are suffering from dehydration and other illnesses, he said.
“They don’t expect to be dealing with any surgery,” he said, although a flight surgeon was sent with the group. “They’re excited to go down, but it’s unfortunate that it’s under these circumstances.”
Some of the nearly 750 gallons of water and more than 1,000 MREs, or prepackaged “meals ready to eat,” that the group took along will sustain the group members for up to 10 days. Also packed for the trip were mosquito nets, light sources and tents that will house the unit’s members, Smith said.
“They’ll be in field conditions,” she said.
The unit’s KC-135 refueling tanker took off Sunday just one hour before the kickoff of the base’s Family Day festivities, an annual event open to all Maine Air National Guard members and their families.
Tina Davis attended the event briefly with her daughter, Casey Davis, 16. They didn’t stay long because Davis’ husband, Command Chief Master Sgt. Curt Davis had left that morning with the medical group, and the family had arrangements to make, she said.
Taking water samples
As a bio-environmentalist, Davis’ husband will be busy in Mississippi sampling and testing water, she said.
“He’s going to be a tired boy,” Davis said. “He’s very happy to go, and he’s very happy to be there.”
Crew Chief Jamie Reynolds spent much of the day with his family enjoying the festivities. He licked a cone of Stars and Stripes ice cream as he sat with his wife, Stephanie, and two boys, 10-year-old Nick and 11-year-old Jacob.
“I like to hang out with everyone,” Jamie Reynolds said of the event, which he attends with his family every year.
The boys took a plane ride on a Cessna, and the family got free vaccinations for their dogs at the base, he said, as his sons dueled next to him with balloon swords.
The event allows Guard members, who live throughout the state, a chance to meet and socialize, said Pattie Davis, a volunteer Family Day organizer and wife of Brig. Gen. Don Davis.
Families need the support, particularly when unit members are deployed, she said.
“They know they’re not the only ones who have to go through it,” Davis said.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.