1 00:00:01,980 --> 00:00:04,040 There's no words for it, because everybody 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:07,750 was very silent as we were flying over and getting closer 3 00:00:07,750 --> 00:00:11,450 to the ground. And being able to see, it was just shocking. 4 00:00:11,450 --> 00:00:13,750 (Announcer) I think as most people know and felt that, about 5 00:00:13,750 --> 00:00:17,066 2:50 this afternoon, we experienced a significant earthquake. 6 00:00:17,066 --> 00:00:20,620 It turns out it was about an 8.9 magnitude. 7 00:00:20,620 --> 00:00:22,760 (Air Force Lt. Col. Cat Carlson) The day that the earthquake hit, our unit 8 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:24,940 was actually deploying to Thailand 9 00:00:24,940 --> 00:00:28,270 to go participate in Exercise Cope Tiger. 10 00:00:28,270 --> 00:00:31,170 We all get to our hotel, and all of a sudden, as soon 11 00:00:31,170 --> 00:00:34,080 as we all connected to WiFi, phones were just going off. 12 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:36,300 I had tons of messages from everybody 13 00:00:36,300 --> 00:00:38,070 asking me if we were okay. 14 00:00:38,070 --> 00:00:40,538 I turned on the TV and saw the news and saw 15 00:00:40,538 --> 00:00:42,920 the damage that had happened from the tsunami and 16 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:45,930 the earthquake, and we were all just kind of in shock. 17 00:00:45,930 --> 00:00:47,350 So, in the middle of an airdrop training 18 00:00:47,350 --> 00:00:49,240 mission they tell us to turn back around. 19 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:52,980 We land back at the airport, and everybody's packing up. 20 00:00:52,980 --> 00:00:54,445 And they were like, “you have an hour to go the hotel, 21 00:00:54,445 --> 00:00:57,120 get all your stuff, we're going back to Japan, 22 00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:58,883 Operation Tomodachi is kicking off.” 23 00:01:00,940 --> 00:01:03,550 (Ret. Air Force Master Sgt. John Souza) Every day, every hour, there was a new development, 24 00:01:03,550 --> 00:01:05,650 a new development that kept piling on. 25 00:01:05,650 --> 00:01:08,770 So you didn't ever know exactly what happened at the moment -- 26 00:01:08,770 --> 00:01:10,769 it was like a week later, you realized 27 00:01:10,769 --> 00:01:13,490 the devastation that just happened. 28 00:01:13,490 --> 00:01:15,750 You know, and then the nuclear, who saw that coming? 29 00:01:15,750 --> 00:01:16,760 Nobody saw that coming. 30 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:18,740 That was like a curve ball. 31 00:01:18,740 --> 00:01:20,570 (Air Force Maj. Matthew Sims) The nuclear power plants had suffered 32 00:01:20,570 --> 00:01:22,070 a great deal of damage, and we were kind 33 00:01:22,070 --> 00:01:24,840 of concerned about the general populace abroad. 34 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:28,220 We started taking scans of the area, both near the power 35 00:01:28,220 --> 00:01:31,940 plant and also the surrounding areas and the towns nearby. 36 00:01:31,940 --> 00:01:34,630 The buildings had fallen apart. There was a lot 37 00:01:34,630 --> 00:01:38,460 of additional parts of structures that were lying about. 38 00:01:38,460 --> 00:01:40,620 And I believe there were firetrucks nearby, and they 39 00:01:40,620 --> 00:01:43,163 were regularly spraying water to keep it cool. 40 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:48,543 The environmental department on base came to assist 41 00:01:48,543 --> 00:01:52,597 to determine if we were radiologically contaminated. 42 00:01:52,597 --> 00:01:55,730 I remember us giggling at that point. 43 00:01:55,730 --> 00:01:57,810 I remember taking out my camera 44 00:01:57,810 --> 00:01:59,320 and taking a picture of my engineer when 45 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,110 he was getting scanned, and he was just smiling. 46 00:02:02,110 --> 00:02:04,670 We were still riding that high of being able to help -- 47 00:02:04,670 --> 00:02:06,410 truly make a big difference. 48 00:02:06,410 --> 00:02:11,030 Try to remember that one power plant that was damaged, 49 00:02:11,030 --> 00:02:14,900 we could remember it, but it kind of dwarfed in comparison 50 00:02:14,900 --> 00:02:18,349 of the amount of towns and deaths that occurred 51 00:02:18,349 --> 00:02:21,743 in areas that we were in due to the tsunami. 52 00:02:23,670 --> 00:02:26,400 (Air Force Col. Mark Mullarkey) We basically took one of our crews out of alert 53 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:29,610 and took off probably about three or so in 54 00:02:29,610 --> 00:02:32,210 the morning with two special tactics teams, 55 00:02:32,210 --> 00:02:34,680 two Humvees in the back of the airplane. 56 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:37,173 They flew up to Matsushima 57 00:02:38,420 --> 00:02:40,480 and they had a reception team there waiting on them. 58 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:43,540 One special tactics team stayed there with them 59 00:02:43,540 --> 00:02:46,945 to search some mobile comms and work with them to sort 60 00:02:46,945 --> 00:02:50,950 and expand the runway opening with them. And they did 61 00:02:50,950 --> 00:02:55,410 the roughly 20 –mile, overland drive to get 62 00:02:55,410 --> 00:02:58,663 from Matsushima to Sendai International Airport. 63 00:02:59,810 --> 00:03:02,240 (Sims) I'll tell you, about half of it to a third of it was 64 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:05,840 completely covered with either water or mud or slush. 65 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:08,410 There were airplanes that looked like they were just all 66 00:03:08,410 --> 00:03:10,620 shoved to one corner of the other side of the airport. 67 00:03:10,620 --> 00:03:12,050 There were cars. 68 00:03:12,050 --> 00:03:15,230 It just looked like a table after we got up 69 00:03:15,230 --> 00:03:18,412 from playing with my kids Micro Machines, and it just 70 00:03:18,412 --> 00:03:22,160 all shoved to one side --there was dirt everywhere. 71 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:25,496 (Mullarkey) By roughly 10, 11 o'clock that morning we had 72 00:03:25,496 --> 00:03:28,472 two comm nodes set up at those two airfields, 73 00:03:28,472 --> 00:03:30,750 and they started clearing both runways. 74 00:03:30,750 --> 00:03:33,480 By three or so in the afternoon, 75 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:36,767 we landed the first MC-130 on the runway at Sendai 76 00:03:36,767 --> 00:03:39,510 International Airport. That was the airport, 77 00:03:39,510 --> 00:03:42,400 if you recall, they had all that video evidence 78 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:44,560 of the tsunami coming in off the ocean, 'cause 79 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:46,750 that airport sits right off the coast. 80 00:03:46,750 --> 00:03:48,990 Over the course of two weeks, 81 00:03:48,990 --> 00:03:50,790 they incrementally worked together 82 00:03:50,790 --> 00:03:53,050 with the Japanese airport managers, 83 00:03:53,050 --> 00:03:55,250 volunteers from the local community as well, 84 00:03:55,250 --> 00:03:57,410 and they incrementally flew 85 00:03:57,410 --> 00:04:01,820 in water, gasoline, diesel, forklifts. 86 00:04:01,820 --> 00:04:04,388 We brought in a bunch of material handling equipment 87 00:04:04,388 --> 00:04:07,646 and things to help them push and pull vehicles 88 00:04:07,646 --> 00:04:10,310 and trees and debris off the runway. 89 00:04:10,310 --> 00:04:13,020 And with each successive day the usable 90 00:04:13,020 --> 00:04:15,270 runway kept getting bigger and bigger. 91 00:04:15,270 --> 00:04:19,100 (Carlson) It was a unique opportunity to see the resiliency 92 00:04:19,100 --> 00:04:22,280 of the Japanese people and how quickly they were recovering, 93 00:04:22,280 --> 00:04:24,810 and how we were able to kind of help facilitate that. 94 00:04:24,810 --> 00:04:26,590 Anytime we do these memorials, you know, 95 00:04:26,590 --> 00:04:29,240 I kind of, I get a little choked up because 96 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:31,281 it was such a big event and it was so tremendous 97 00:04:31,281 --> 00:04:34,690 and impactful for everybody here and being a part of Japan. 98 00:04:34,690 --> 00:04:37,640 You know, I'm not Japanese, but I feel like this is part 99 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:40,810 of my family and being here. So, it was very humbling, 100 00:04:40,810 --> 00:04:44,018 very sobering and a little exciting to be able 101 00:04:44,018 --> 00:04:47,990 to contribute to help in the recovery efforts. 102 00:04:47,990 --> 00:04:50,400 (Souza) Watching those Japanese people wait hours 103 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:54,420 in line quietly for food or whatever, calmly, 104 00:04:54,420 --> 00:04:56,620 their manners toward each other in a crisis 105 00:04:56,620 --> 00:04:59,967 was very respectable. And I think it was, 106 00:04:59,967 --> 00:05:02,293 it was an example for the world to follow. 107 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:06,060 (Carlson) I think Tomodachi is, again, 108 00:05:06,060 --> 00:05:07,780 it's an unfortunate coincidence, 109 00:05:07,780 --> 00:05:09,550 but we all strive to be part of something bigger; 110 00:05:09,550 --> 00:05:10,830 and I think that was the opportunity 111 00:05:10,830 --> 00:05:13,330 for us to be part of something bigger. 112 00:05:13,330 --> 00:05:17,680 (Mullarkey) My crews, they jumped into it with both feet. 113 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:19,120 They knew it was a serious situation, 114 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:20,880 and it didn't matter the time of day 115 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:23,540 or that they were taking off and flying missions. 116 00:05:23,540 --> 00:05:24,709 They knew that they were contributing 117 00:05:24,709 --> 00:05:28,683 to a greater cause, and they took pride in that. 118 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:31,720 Out on the beach, just short of the runway, 119 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:33,360 there was a bunch of blown over trees, 120 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:36,460 you know washed up trees, and it just looked like a big 121 00:05:36,460 --> 00:05:40,150 bunch of logs; but they spelled out “arigato” on the beach. 122 00:05:40,150 --> 00:05:43,093 So, that was sort of a welcoming sign to those crews. 123 00:05:45,750 --> 00:05:47,470 If something were to happen here again, 124 00:05:47,470 --> 00:05:49,820 I know that the United States will probably 125 00:05:49,820 --> 00:05:52,249 do anything in its power to help out, and I'd like 126 00:05:52,249 --> 00:05:55,420 to say it'd probably be the same way if the shoe 127 00:05:55,420 --> 00:05:58,120 were on the other foot, if we needed some support, 128 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:00,470 the Japanese would be there to help us as well.