Excerpt from the Oct. 20, 2001 New York Times:
The C-17 cargo plane was ten minutes from its drop zone when the rear door opened onto the night sky high above Afghanistan. Frigid air burst into the cabin, washing over food boxes that stood like soldiers at attention before an American flag.
Crouching before the door, his oxygen mask pressing hard against his face, a staff sergeant named Paul signaled that the plane was one minute from its target.
Suddenly, with a rush like a powerful freight train gathering speed, 42 boxes flew out the door, opening in midair and raining their contents -- bright yellow packets of food -- on the countryside below.
Within seconds, the C-17 and two sister planes had spilled 51,000 plastic packages, each containing two ready-to-eat meals, over a remote valley in northern Afghanistan. Each wrapper bore a message, ''Food gift from the people of the United States of America'' in English...
For all the apparent simplicity of tossing food from a plane, the air drops are complex missions. . . .
Each flight requires a large supporting cast, including KC-135 tankers, AWACS command and control planes, and fighter jets to protect the C-17's over hostile territory...
The planes fly at unusually high altitudes-- typically over 25,000 feet-- to avoid Taliban antiaircraft fire.
Rico says the Burmese military doesn't have much in the way of antiaircraft artillery or rockets, so if we can do this for the Afghans, why not the Burmese?
22 May 2008
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