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Afghan Air Corps delivers supplies to 600 students, 150 teachers

  • Published
  • By Capt. Robert Leese
  • 438th Air Expeditionary Wing
KABUL --  The Afghan National Army Air Corp has performed their first-ever humanitarian assistance distribution mission with support from their Combined Air Power Transition Force mentors on June 7th, 2010.

The mission was considered a success as the truckload of school supplies which included backpacks, notebooks and sports equipment were given to the 600 students and the 150 teachers and administrators received blankets.

One of their missions is to build community relations and promote the Afghan Air Corps within their own country. They acquired a truckload of school supplies to provide to 600 local school kids for the Air Corp's first ever distribution at the Abdul Ahmad Jaweed School located in District 15, about 2 miles north of Kabul International Airport and the home of the Afghan Air Corps.

Major Dave Burnett, the CAPTF Religious and Cultural Affairs (RCA) Advisor for the Afghan Air Corp explained, "As the RCA mentor, one of my responsibilities is to advise the Corps on performing humanitarian assistance missions. Their mission is two-fold; first is to use the supplies to train and second is to win the hearts and minds of their own Afghan people by bringing them needed supplies."

Many Afghans are unaware that an Afghan Air Corps even exists. They see aircraft flying and think it is NATO or U.S. aircraft. There will be a sense of pride from the Afghan citizens, when the helicopter lands and an Afghan crew steps out of a helicopter.

One of the RCA's missions is to provide humanitarian assistance to the Afghan community in times of need.

Their first distribution was to a local school, but future distributions will be to remote locations that are only accessible by aircraft. Those missions are designed to use the Afghan Air Corps aircraft as a symbol of hope for the Afghan people.