Here is part of an email that Ryan sent me. I thought some others might be interested in reading it. I was impressed with how articulate he wrote at 4 a.m. after his 16 hours shift!
Hey hon, Sorry I haven't called recently. I will try to call tomorrow morning before my shift or at the beginning of it. It is very busy here. We are moving nearly 1.2 million pounds of cargo a day. Half of it has been the 82nd Airborne from Fort Bragg. The other half is mostly from foreign and US civilian aircraft. I am sure once the 82nd is here, we are going to get hammered with Humanitarian Daily Rations and Water. I am working on organizing our cargo yard so that it doesn't get clogged up from everything coming down. We have our Army partners here which helps because they establish another yard that is transferred away from our airfield. That is where the distribution is supposed to happen. This helps keep the pallets coming in off the aircraft and dropped in the yard. It is challenging but fun. I have to say that one of the hardest things I have to do is police the yard for people that don't belong there. Some sneak into our area looking for food and water and I have to respectfully tell them to leave because we don't have the authority to hand anything to them. That is what all the non-government organizations (NGOs) are here to do. The other tough job is at the passenger processing line for the American Citizens (AMCITs). It is rewarding yet sad to see all the little children and babies heading to the airplane destined for the US. Sad, because of thinking about what they went through. It makes me think of our kids and how lucky we are. I honestly have to step away and go work somewhere else. So far, that I know of, 3 people have died in the passenger terminal waiting to get on the airplanes. I bet that didn't get in the news. I wasn't there for any of them, but my guys were around. What helps me is to stay focused on getting the cargo to either our other yard or loaded on the trucks to get out to the people. The faster we get it out of here, the faster it gets out to them. I take great pride in trying to keep things moving, yet stay organized. We have a pretty good plan, (albeit rudimentary), to keep things accounted for and moved on. I wouldn't say that it is the prefer ed long term solution, but it is working for now. Since we have set up camp, hundreds of search and rescue teams, charity and humanitarian organizations all foreign and US have camped outside our compound. It looks like a gypsy camp out there. It is hard to explain in words, but picture Woodstock and you can get a good idea. I will try to have someone take a picture of it from our K-Loader. Some of them came in without food or water to support themselves, so they are getting a little exhausted. Unfortunately, they came to help, but may end up being a liability for the effort. The past two days, nothing but 82nd Airborne Army cargo has been unloaded off the US military planes. And guess what, like true Army fashion, they didn't send any of there tents in yet. So the past two days a few thousand Army bubbas have been sleeping underneath the Haitian stars at the far end of our ramp. I have done exercises with them before, and that is just the expectation they have. We are hearing that this place is going to be a pretty long term commitment for the US. We may be opening up a temporary Air Base here to help them rebuild. Go figure, I may get to be a part of yet another Air Base Opening event...my 3rd. I am pretty tired at the end of the days and I miss you guys a lot, but I am very happy that I have been able to be a part of this. We are moving so much that this will be in the military history books and studied like the others I have been a part of.
