HS-14 Completes Operation Tomodachi Mission at Misawa

Photo By Chief Petty Officer Jose Lopez | Members of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (HS) 14 and Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light (HSL) 51 board a Logistical Support Squadron (VR) 52 C-9 Skytrain that will return them to Naval Air Facility Atsugi. HS-14 and HSL-51 are normally based out of NAF Atsugi, but were temporarily repositioned at NAF Misawa to better support Operation Tomodachi.  

MISAWA, AOMORI, JAPAN

04.04.2011

Story by Petty Officer 1st Class Jose Lopez 

Naval Air Facility Misawa

NAVAL AIR FACILITY MISAWA, Japan -- Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 14 personnel and aircraft returned to Naval Air Facility Atsugi, April 4, after spending three weeks repositioned at Naval Air Facility Misawa.

Over the past three weeks, HS-14 has flown SH-60F Seahawk helicopters to provide Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief in support of Operation Tomodachi. Japan was hit by 9.0-magnitude earthquake, which triggered a tsunami that devastated the country’s eastern coastline, March 11.

“The majority of our missions consisted of flying in necessities, like drinking water and general medical supplies,” said Chief Petty Officer Brad Carlton, a Naval air crewmen attached to HS-14 and a native of Hickman, Ky. “The best part was seeing the genuine relief on the faces of the people.”

HS-14 began flying missions on March 12 from NAFA, their home station. The squadron received orders March 16, which re-positioned them to NAFM in support of relief operations. By March 18, the entire squadron was actively flying from the northeastern-Japan naval facility.

As operations reduced and conditions began to return to a state of normalcy, the squadron was ordered to return to Atsugi. More than 240 squadron personnel will return to NAFA and continue their original mission, and also prepare for upcoming deployments.

“Now we await orders,” said Carlton. “We’ll see what tasking we get and we’ll find out where we will deploy to next.”

HS-14 maintenance and support crews boarded a C-9 Skytrain and made the journey back to Atsugi. The remaining flight crews will perform final phase checks on the helicopters and make their way back home as well.

“We go out and get the job done,” said Carlton. “This is what we do.”

For more news from Naval Air Facility Misawa, visit https://www.cnic.navy.mil/misawa/index.htm or check out our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/nafmisawa.

• Date Taken: 04.04.2011
• Date Posted: 04.05.2011 04:36
• Story ID: 68284
• Location: MISAWA, AOMORI, JP