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Air Guardsmen from Peoria are evacuating Afghan refugees. Here's what they're seeing
The C-130 from Peoria, Illinois, is the only Air National Guard plane helping ferry Afghan refugees in Europe.
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Air Guardsmen from Peoria are evacuating Afghan refugees. Here's what they're seeing
PEORIA — Maj. Jason Hurt has flown a lot of things in his 21-year career with the Illinois Air National Guard, but having about 60 refugees from Afghanistan in the cargo area of his C-130 was something new.
"It was pretty rewarding," said the Peoria resident, who flew men, women and children from Spain to Germany hours after they had arrived from Afghanistan. "The part that really hit home was when we loaded them up. There were a bunch of kids. ... There were infants, toddlers and teenagers."
Hurt and his crew from the Peoria-based 182nd Airlift Wing were in Europe for a routine mission when the call came Tuesday, just days before an explosion at Kabul's airport that killed at least 12 American service members and disrupted ongoing evacuations of American military personnel and Afghan refugees.
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Their plane is currently the only National Guard C-130 Hercules flying any missions around Europe involving Afghan refugees.
Coloring books and bypassing language barriers
"We set (the children) up with coloring books (purchased by the Guard members and their colleagues) and got them some candy and tried to make them as comfortable as they could be," said Hurt, who spoke from an air base in Germany.
There was a language barrier — only one teen could speak English, and translated most of the time — but Hurt said, despite that, it was pretty clear what everyone's emotions were.
"There was a lot of waving, lots of thumbs-up, and lots of gratitude," he said. "It's really difficult for any one of us to put ourselves in the situation they just got out of.
"Some of these people were under substantial distress in Kabul right up until the time they got on the plane to get out of there. It is difficult to imagine what they have been through," he added.
The mission was one of many happening across the continent. Thousands of refugees are being evacuated to Germany and then are being taken throughout the region to nations willing to accept them.
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The flight lasted just under three hours and covered about 700 miles.
"You can chalk a lot of it up to right place and right time," he said. "I'm very proud and fortunate to be able to take part in this operation," said Hurt, who has deployed to Afghanistan as part of the war effort at least twice.
'On the cutting edge of this very difficult mission'
Col. Daniel R. McDonough, the wing's commander, heard about the mission when he woke up early Wednesday. Airmen were able to notify him and pointed him to a news story that didn't name the Peoria unit but showed a photo of its plane with its big, orange tail stripe containing the word "Peoria."
Proud was one way of putting it, he said,
"I thought, 'There we are, no kidding, on the cutting edge of this very difficult mission. It shows how we are out there doing the nation's work every day."
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Hurt said the mission harkened back to the traditional role of the National Guard, aiding in disaster-relief and humanitarian missions. In 2003, a C-130 from Peoria was the first military aircraft to land in Iran after a massive earthquake. In 2010, personnel from the 182nd flew in humanitarian aid to Pakistan after flooding there.
Hurt and the Peoria air crew are still in Europe, waiting for their next assignment.
"We are just basically trying to do our part with the evacuation efforts, as we were directed to by command," he said. "A humanitarian mission is one that everyone is always willing to step up for."
