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Pakistani women and children board a U.S. Marine CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter during humanitarian relief efforts for flood victims in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, Aug. 17, 2010. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Capt. Paul Duncan)

The U.S. response to the disaster was immediate. Only 36 hours into the flooding, U.S. Air Force C-130s and C-17 aircraft already had begun aid flights, delivering more than 436,000 halal meals for distribution by Pakistani authorities. Six U.S. Army helicopters were dispatched from Afghanistan shortly afterwards to Ghazi Air Base in the north of Pakistan to begin urgently requested relief flights.

Vice Adm. Mike LeFever, U.S. Defense Representative to Pakistan, recently visited U.S. military personnel deployed to Pano Aqil and Ghazi Air Bases in support of the flood relief mission to see first-hand their efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to flood-affected people throughout the country.  He thanked the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines for their work and reflected on the rapid response of the initial U.S. military aircrews and support personnel to support Pakistan in its time of need.

“They immediately went into operations up in the northern areas to the most-devastated, most hard hit areas,” he said. “There’s no other country in the world that can do that – to provide that kind of strategic airlift and have that kind of capability to respond so quickly.

“We were, by far, the first country that had been able to respond that quickly and with that magnitude of forces,” the admiral said.

Though flood relief efforts were initially focused on northern Pakistan, it soon became clear that additional support would be needed as flood waters flowed south and continued to push rivers beyond their banks.

“This was [like] watching a disaster movie in slow motion,” LeFever said. “To know that these flood waters up north, that created so much devastation and wiped out bridges and cities and towns … [were] all moving down the Indus … this was going to really be a problem later on in the low-lying areas of Pakistan.”

In response to the increased flooding throughout the entire country, additional U.S. aircraft and support personnel joined the relief operations. Today, sixty days after the floods struck, hundreds of U.S. military and civilian personnel continue to work around the clock in Pakistan, committed to supporting the Government of Pakistan’s flood relief efforts.

Airlift support also continues with 26 U.S. military helicopters currently in Pakistan supporting relief efforts, with more offshore aboard USS Peleliu. An average of four to six C-130 and C-17 aircraft from the U.S. Air Force and Marine Corps deliver aid daily throughout the country operating from bases in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the U.S. Central Command theater.

These aircraft and their aircrews, working in close partnership with the Pakistan military, have transported more than 13.5 million pounds of relief supplies and evacuated more than 20,000 people, delivering much-needed aid and providing transport to people who urgently need emergency assistance.

From the initial U.S. Army helicopters to the U.S. Air Force fixed wing support, and from the Marine Expeditionary Units to the Navy ships off the coast supporting operations, flood relief efforts in Pakistan are a joint effort in coordination with government of Pakistan.

"You look at the magnitude in how we're able to respond, and it's really terrific to be able to do while helping our strategic partner Pakistan and their people," LeFever said.

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