183rd Airlift Squadron – USVI Relief

Photo By Jovi Prevot | Mississippi Air National Guard Lt. Col. Dennis Cobb and Maj. Michael Maddock, both C-17 pilots with the 183rd Airlift Squadron, navigate a C-17 Globemaster III from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Mississippi, October 18, 2017, above the Caribbean Sea. The 183rd AS is transporting Mississippi Guardsmen and equipment from the U.S. Virgin Islands to their home state. (Mississippi National Guard photo by Spc. Jovi Prevot, 102d Public Affairs Detachment)  

JACKSON, MS, UNITED STATES

10.19.2017

Story by Spc. Jovi Prevot, Spc. Christopher Shannon and Maj. Andy Thaggard

102d Public Affairs Detachment

JACKSON, Mississippi. – Over the past week, Airmen of the 183rd Airlift Squadron, Mississippi Air National Guard, flew several missions to retrieve nearly 150 Mississippi Army and Air Guardsmen that responded to recent hurricanes in the Caribbean. The last sortie was flown on October 20, 2017.

Once the relief mission was complete, the state tasked a dozen Airmen to help bring the Guardsmen home.

“Our mission is supporting the hurricane relief efforts, picking up cargo and personnel and bringing them home,” said Mississippi Air National Guard Tech Sgt. Dallas Avent, a loadmaster with 183rd Airlift Squadron.

This isn’t just another mission, for some Airmen it means more.

“I feel like we are doing something, we are helping out. It is a tragedy what happened down here and we were ready for an opportunity for us to help,” said Avent.

Missions like this are what the National Guard trains for.

“This is the type mission I signed up for,” said 1st Lt. Michael W. Maready, a C-17 Pilot with 183rd Airlift Squadron. “It’s nice to be able help out the my fellow U.S. citizens that I saw on the news, put my training to a good use.”

Though this is a real world mission, not a training exercise, the Airmen were able to find training value in it.

“There is training value, it keeps us proficient at what we do,” said Avent, “We see different loads like PAX (personnel), pallets, rolling stock and cargo. So it keeps us proficient at our jobs.”

But more than experience, some Airmen gain something more from this mission.

“It’s an honor to be able to this, alongside with my civilian job. I can do my civilian job, but when disaster strikes, I can serve my state and my country,” said Maready.

• Date Taken: 10.19.2017
• Date Posted: 10.21.2017 14:51
• Story ID: 252285
• Location: JACKSON, MS, US