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Airmen provide aid to Iran

AFPN

Release Date: 12/29/2003

12/29/2003 - KERMAN, Iran (AFPN) -- An Air National Guard C-130 Hercules landed here Dec. 28 with 20 pallets of humanitarian aid destined for the earthquake-stricken residents of Bam.

The cargo included medical supplies, food and purified water.

American airmen and Iranian soldiers worked side-by-side forming a human chain to unload the 20,000 pounds of badly needed material into waiting trucks. The supplies were then trucked into Bam a little more than 100 miles away.

Besides humanitarian aid, the C-130 from Peoria, Ill., carried aerial port operations and support agency experts to assess the operational and equipment needs for follow-on aircraft. The assessments are vital because the Air Force is sending C-5 Galaxy and C-17 Globemaster III aircraft for follow-on relief flights, said U.S. Central Command officials.

The humanitarian mission was the first American flight into Iran since the Iranian hostage crisis ended in January 1981.