DESCRIPTION BY SHANE KIMMETT: We were in Bogotá when the mission

 commander came on the aircraft (with engines running and ready to taxi) and

 told us we had to drop off our current load in Latacunga, Ecuador and then

 proceed to Coca, Ecuador to evacuate approx. 43 US Army Reserve medics.

    The airstrip, in Coca, was 5,000 feet long but only 48 feet wide. We
took off and made the 45 minute flight to Coca and did the last 30 mi or
so at 200ft and 250kts. We did a self contained approach (SCA) and
landed at the airfield. After we landed we taxied back to the terminal
area and that is when the fun started.

    At first it was kind of calm but then it was a free for all. After
about 30 secs of a peaceful ERO we had so many people getting on the
plane that it was all assholes and elbows in the back. I helped out the
loads as much as I could without leaving my pos. Those guys and gals
(Army) were very happy to see us.

      We spent about 15 min total on the ground and evacuated 43 US Army
dudes, 20 Ecuadorian civilians, and at least 4 Ecuadorian Army SF dudes.

      The Americans had been trapped at their camp since Wed. It was Fri
when we went and evacuated them. They were down to 2 days food and 1
days worth of water. In order to get to the airport the Ecuadorian Army
had to use gas and batons to get the Americans to the airport. For
whatever reason there was an uprising against the gov't en el orriente
and the US guys got caught up in it. This was the same area where  5
Americans had been taken hostage by the FARC a few months ago.

    Anyway that is the general description of the mission. The next few
e-mails will be the pics I have and a short description of them. This
story also made the base paper here and I personally got to brief LT.
Gen. Bailey (AFSOC CC) on my participation during the mission. I think
he likes us MKs.

This is the airfield we took off from. Cotopaxi International elevation 9,200 ft.

  Pretty cool little place.  No name for the mountain in the pic but there is an

 active volcano that you can see from the field. It's over 19,000 ft elevation.

These are the loads loading up their weapons in Latacunga. I tried to
get them to give me my weapon but for some reason they just didn't trust
a DSO with a weapon. I was only joking asking for my weapon. If a DSO
has to shoot we're screwed anyway .

 

This is a pic from the DSO pos on an MC-130H Combat Talon II.   (More info)

 We are back taxiing to the terminal. The strip was so narrow the loads said we
were mowin' some grass.

This pic was taken from my pos right before the loads dropped the ramp
and the SF guy came on board and asked the load how many we could take.
The response was "how many ya got".

These are the evacuees.