Airman delivers holiday cheer with help of expeditionary airlift squadron

Published Dec. 24, 2014
By Senior Airman Kia Atkins
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar -- What started off as a family holiday tradition for one Airman turned into an idea to help deliver holiday cheer to Airmen deployed to austere locations far from the reach of postal service.

“In some deployed locations, there are servicemembers who either can’t get mail or don’t have the opportunities to receive care packages like we do,” said Airman 1st Class Matthew Sunderlin, 379th Operations Support Squadron intelligence analyst, deployed from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., “So I thought it would be nice to give them a little bit of home during this holiday season.”

Sunderlin, like many other deployed servicemembers, doesn’t just receive care packages from his family and friends, but is fortunate enough to also receive care packages from generous organizations back in the United States. Care packages are often stuffed with much needed toiletries, as well as, homemade cookies, candy and holiday cards thanking servicemembers for their sacrifice and service to their country.

After Sunderlin left home to join the Air Force, his mother joined a local organization in Jamestown, N.Y. that supports servicemembers downrange with care packages.

“Matthew’s recruiter introduced me to this organization after he left for basic military training,” said Lee Ann Sunderlin, Sunderlin’s mother. “I joined because we all had something in common. A child who was or had been in the military, so we were there not only to support each other but also to support our children.”

This organization was already sending care packages to servicemembers, which gave Sunderlin the idea to take it a step further.

“The organization was sending a lot of care packages, but they could only send them to certain places,” Sunderlin said. “I told them to send them to me and I would see if there was any way I could get them on a C-130 so they could be delivered to servicemembers who might not be able to receive them directly. I wasn’t sure if it could be done, but I definitely wanted to give it a try.”

Sunderlin then made a few calls to see if there was any way he could send these care packages—all fifty boxes of them— out via a C-130J Hercules and ended up coordinating with the 746th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron to deliver the packages to forward deployed locations.

“Receiving request s like these from other squadrons is not uncommon,” said Lt. Col. Jeremy Schaad, 746th EAS commander deployed from the 153rd Airlift Wing in Cheyenne, Wyo. “Several squadrons deployed here bring care packages to us, and if we have extra room while doing an operational mission, we add some of the care packages to our cargo.”

This month, the 746th EAS, whose operational mission encompasses tactical airlifts, precision airdrops and aeromedical evacuations throughout the U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility, has flown more than 120 missions throughout the AOR and delivered more than 60 care packages in the last two weeks.

“It really means a lot to be able to share these packages with other military members out here and we are so grateful for all the people that donate,” Schaad said.

Although not all the packages will make it those military members in time for the holiday season, Airmen from the 746th EAS still deliver them whenever they can.

“We don’t just do things like this during the holiday season,” Schaad said. “We’ve done this before and will continue doing so for as long as we have the opportunity.”