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US Army South Assistance to the Dominican Republic
Story by Robert Appin
Photos by Juan Torres-Diaz
Santo Domingo – US Army South deployed its rapid deployable
command and control personnel along with their humanitarian assistance
survey team to Dominican Republic to assist with disaster relief efforts
in areas affected by flooding following the passing of Tropical Storm
Noel on 3 Nov.
The US Army South’s teams arrived and began to integrate itself with the
ongoing relief efforts.
“We arrived and focused on how best we could be part of this large
team. Therefore we met with various organizations, the first was with
the leadership of our American Embassy,” said Lt. Col. Kevin Charlton,
officer-in-charge of the teams.
The teams’ main effort turned to coordinate air missions that included
search and rescue operations as well as the delivery of humanitarian
relief supplies.
“Chief Dillard’s (aviation officer, US Army South) knowledge was
instrumental in ensuring the smooth flow and efficient several kinds of
helicopters that have been providing assistance to those who have been
severely affected by the storm,” said Maj. Daniel J. Matthews,
logistical officer, US Army South. The Dominican Republic Air Force, US
Coast Guard, Puerto Rico National Guard and the British Royal Navy
provided the helicopter support, added Matthews.
According to Howard R. White, commander, District 7 in Miami, USCG and
officer-in-charge here stated that they arrived with one H65 and two H67
helicopters from islands of Grand Inagua, Bahamas and Aguadilla, PR,
began relief operations in the northern part of the country. He added
that they then shifted their focus and began to help in the area known
as San Jose de Ocoa, located on the western part of the island.
Matthews managed the coordinating of the relief supplies. He worked
with a variety of organizations such as the Peace Corps, United States
Agency for International Development, Red Cruz from Spain and the UN’s
World Food Program.
“In this emergency we have been working very closely with the Americans
to get to those remote areas that have been isolated,” said Nelson
Ortega, logistics officer, WFP. Working with the US military has
allowed us to get to areas severely affected that we would not have been
able to reach, added Ortega.
“We have worked extremely well with all the organizations
involved with the disaster relief response. This has been a successful
Joint, Combined, Interagency, Intergovernmental and Multinational
effort,” said, Col. Ricardo R. Riera, deputy chief of staff for
operations, US Army South. We are complete with the search and rescue
mission and have a few pallets of relief supplies left to deliver. We
will probably be finished moving supplies in a few days and are
reviewing plans to see what more can be done here, stated Riera.
As of today, the U.S. Army South’s coordination of air
missions has ensured the delivery of more than 200,000 pounds of
humanitarian relief supplies to the Dominican Republic to assist with
disaster relief operations associated with Tropical Storm Noel. |
