U.S. service members, partner nations, and the local community prepare for the 66th annual Operation Christmas Drop at Andersen AFB, Guam, Nov. 3, 2017.
Operation Christmas Drop 2017 is a trilateral training event that includes additional air support from the Japanese Air Self Defense Force and Royal Australian Air Force. Over the course of 12 days, our team of allies will train together on Low-Cost Low-Altitude airdrop tactics and procedures over unsurveyed drop zones while providing critical supplies to 56 Micronesian islands, impacting about 20,000 people covering 1.8 million square nautical miles of operating area. This is important because it means in the event of a humanitarian aid or contingency operation in an area in which we are unfamiliar, without first being on the ground to formally assess the drop location, we will have the training and experience to speed up the time from notification to bundle drop.
The operation began (and continues) out of a spirit of goodwill and the story is truly special. Volunteers in Guam coordinate air drops via ham radios with dozens of remote island villages as Airmen from Yokota and Andersen prepare packages full of donated goods for air drop. When the actual missions occur, aircrews are linked to the village via ham radio as they fly overhead and drop supplies. The event is an uplifting and rewarding experience for all involved. It also affords our team the chance to practice Low-Cost Low-Altitude airdrops of the sort you might see in Afghanistan or in response to a humanitarian crisis. In that sense, it's a profound win for everyone. (U.S. Air Force video/ airman Audra Young) More