In July, a series of tropical storms, one upgraded to a typhoon, hit the northernmost province of the Philippines, called Luzon. Heavy rainfall from Typhoon Co-may led to flooding across the province. Rising water blocked a major highway and short-circuited a power station.
In Misawa, Japan, the Air Force's 353rd Special Operations Wing was training as part of the Resolute Force Pacific exercise. Suddenly, they received an alert to help provide disaster relief in conjunction with the Filipino government. Within six hours, they were ready to go and used primarily the CV-22 Osprey to get into and out of areas afflicted by the floods.
On July 30 and 31, the Osprey delivered food bundles to difficult-to-access areas like Basco, Batanes. The Osprey's vertical take-off and landing capability and long flight time durations made it an ideal platform for these operations.
The 353rd SOW was prepared and equipped to conduct "missions involving swift water rescue, mass casualty response, collapsed structure recovery, and operations at austere landing zones and drop zones," according to a Department of Defense press release.
“This was a true team-of-teams effort,” explained Col. Stewart Parker, who is the commander of the 353rd SOW. “Special Operations Forces cannot respond to crisis without the robust support we received from our Pacific Air Forces teammates."