Someone in a plane flying at 2,000 feet typically can't see people on the ground. But from his C-17 cockpit, Air Force Capt. Benjamin See was astonished by what he saw below among the ruins of Gaza’s bombed-out moonscape.
People. Masses of people.
So many, they looked like a fallen cloud as they swirled desperately between southern Gaza’s gray rubble and the dark blue Mediterranean.
“It was like nothing I’ve ever seen and can’t forget,” See told The Post and Courier at Joint Base Charleston. “It was a shock-and-awe moment for me to see how great the need was. I could see that from the cockpit.”
C-17s are huge enough to carry 96 heavily armed men or several Humvees while slicing through the sky over 518 mph at 45,000 feet. But for his March missions, See needed to slow to 150 mph just 2,000 feet above one of the Earth’s most dangerous war zones.
Maj. Spencer Boone, a North Charleston-based pilot coordinating airdrops, had access to dozens of Signal and WhatsApp chats he could access from the plane for intel from allies on the ground.
Their mission was to stop a famine. Last month, the U.S. Agency for International Development said half of Gaza’s 2.2 million Palestinian civilians, including 10,000 children, were at risk of “catastrophic hunger.”
The plane depressurized as its mammoth gates opened to roaring wind and sky. Loadmaster Staff Sgt. Dale Melgoza worked near the gaping maw as motorized tracks moved the cargo out. He makes sure cargo doesn't snag one of his buttons or cuffs and drag him out the door.
"I wear a parachute during the flight, just in case," Melgoza said.
Kelvin Gordon ties a package down on a C-17 at Joint Base Charleston as the crew prepares for a practice aid drop above the town of North on April 2, 2024. The crews were training to drop aid packages into Gaza, where one Charleston-based crew has already completed a mission.
Food crates parachuted through crystal blue sky, and See watched the masses move toward the drop zone.
That visible anguish resonated with See, powering him and 35 other Joint Base Charleston Air Force personnel through several 16-hour workdays.
Airdrops are not the most efficient way to get aid to the Palestinian territory with maritime, air space and seven border crossings controlled by Israel.
Currently, however, it seems the most feasible path. A pier facilitating seaborne delivery won’t be completed until mid-May. President Joe Biden authorized the emergency humanitarian airdrops. The United Kingdom and Royal Jordanian Air Force have also made food drops.
Americans and Jordanians dropped at least 950,000 meals and 144,000 bottles of water into Gaza, according to U.S. Air Forces Central Command. JBC crews returned to Charleston by April 1.
Brandon Berry (left), Kelvin Gordon and the rest of the crew work aboard a C-17 aircraft at Joint Base Charleston on April 2, 2024.
Food airdrops dangerous, complex
Gaza isn't the first humanitarian mission for Charleston crews. They dropped food to starving Afghans in 2001 and dropped supplies into Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. Before joining the Gaza crews as a pilot, Capt. Farley Pipkins helped evacuate Afghans and American citizens fleeing the invading Taliban in 2021.
The crew of a C-17 aircraft at Joint Base Charleston prepares for a practice aid drop above the town of North on April 2, 2024.
For Gaza, Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) are Halal, prepared in accordance with Muslim dietary regulations, although Gaza's small Christian community hopefully also will be saved by them. A parachute is attached to each box. March food drops aren't plentiful enough to end Palestinian civilians' hunger and dehydration. But MREs can last for three years without refrigeration in climates where temperatures hover at 80.
The plane is designed for cargo safety, not human comfort. There are no reclining chairs, just seat slots along both walls. But the crews endured the 24-hour flight from Charleston to Gaza, stretching their legs at fuel stops.
The first C-17 Globemaster transport plane, also nicknamed "The Moose," was delivered to Charleston in 1993, with the 17th Airlift Squadron activated at Charleston Air Force Base two years later.
Two officers fluent in several languages preceded the Charleston crews to gather intel. Maj. Carlen Vician read their written briefings before the drops. The Royal Jordanian Air Force worked out mission details with Israel and other nations so that no one mistakes food-drop flights as a menace. (Boone calls that "deconflicting the airspace.")
Jordanians chose football field-size drop zones near landmarks like piers or roads. Crews studied topography maps and photos to improve accuracy.
Land routes too perilous
On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists based in the Gaza Strip launched surprise attacks in Israel, killing around 1,200 people, according to Israeli counts — mostly civilians, including women and children — and kidnapping at least 250. Israel declared war on Hamas. Since then, at least 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and more than 76,000 injured, according to the health ministry.
Israel’s death toll has reached at least 1,700 people — including more than 800 civilians — with another 8,700 injured, according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Immediately after the terrorist attacks, Israel began enforcing a strict blockade of goods heading into Gaza. Trucks hauling food for Palestinian civilians have been logjammed at the border. Security checks by Israel Defense Forces and Egyptian military can take days. The Financial Times recently used satellite images to show 540 food trucks waiting to be searched.
Many Palestinian civilians are cut off from roads by battles and airstrikes. Typical food sources have been destroyed. Land routes have become increasingly dangerous. In an April 4 letter to Biden, directors of Project HOPE, CARE USA, Anera, Save the Children and other charities wrote that 203 of their staff have been killed delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Two tragic events highlighted the increased dangers of land-bound aid.
On Feb. 29, over 100 Palestinians died after the IDF opened fire on crowds gathered around food trucks. Soldiers later said they felt threatened, a claim several watchdog nonprofits disputed after reviewing video of the attack.
On April 1, seven World Central Kitchen workers were killed after IDF missiles struck their clearly marked trucks in a humanitarian corridor on a food delivery approved by the Israeli military. WCK is a charity that provides food relief to war refugees globally as well as to people impacted by natural disasters, including Florida hurricane survivors and U.S. wildfire survivors. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attack a "tragic" mistake. WCK withdrew from Gaza. The deaths sparked a worldwide discussion of how to get food to Palestinians there in dire need.
Senator's perspective
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., became familiar with C-17s as a passenger flying between Jerusalem and the Saudi capital of Riyadh while negotiating with Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel as a nation. He calls the landmark achievement "the game changer" that could end conflicts between Israel and Arab nations forever. He was in Israel last month, where security concerns prevented him from visiting the Gaza border.
When asked by The Post and Courier about the WCK attack, Graham said: "Were mistakes made? Yes. Could things have been done better? Yes."
Graham added that C-17 airdrops are "the backbone of food delivery to Gaza. ... I'm proud of what these crews, guys and girls from Charleston, are doing."
Kory Skrudland ties a package down on a C-17 aircraft at Joint Base Charleston as the crew prepares for a practice aid drop above the town of North on April 2, 2024. The crews were training to drop aid packages into Gaza, where one Charleston-based crew has already completed a mission.
Graham said he still hopes Saudi Arabia will recognize Israel this year, even if that would mean the historic agreement comes during the Biden administration. He believes his colleagues may put politics aside for Middle East peace.
Graham told The Post and Courier he understood the need for time-consuming security checks of food trucks because Hamas has "radicalized" Gaza Palestinians.
Kelvin Gordon ties a package down on a C-17 aircraft at Joint Base Charleston on April 2, 2024. Crews were training to drop aid packages into Gaza, where one Charleston-based crew has already completed a mission.
The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs conducts opinion research in Arab nations. Starting in September, it completed hundreds of in-person surveys of Gaza Palestinians. Two out of three — 67 percent — said they had "little or no trust in Hamas." About 44 percent of Gaza's population was born after the 2006 election that put Hamas in power. The majority of Palestinians told pollsters they wanted Israel and an independent Palestine to exist side by side.
It was landmark research. But the surveys ended Oct. 6. The next day, Hamas terrorism triggered a grueling war.
For the Charleston-based crews, politics had no place in anti-famine missions.
Saving lives
The Charleston crews were recruited for Gaza with less than one day's notice before boarding a 24-hour flight to a war zone. Pipkins said he was in Washington, D.C., on assignment "when I was retasked to Gaza."
Brandon Berry (left) and Kelvin Gordon, along with the rest of the crew of a C-17 aircraft at Joint Base Charleston, prepare for a practice aid drop on April 2, 2024. Crews were training to drop aid packages into Gaza, where one Charleston-based crew has already completed a mission.
They stayed at a U.S. military base in Qatar, where they used endless weather data to computer-model their drops. No one wanted lifesaving meals blown into the sea. "Wind changes from 8 to 15 mph can change the direction of parachutes," Vician explained. He recalled a timeworn saying: "40 hours of planning for 10 seconds of glory."
See recalls a routine flight in Africa when the temperature on the tarmac hit 114 degrees. His C-17 delayed takeoff until the air cooled several degrees. Heat diminishes air density, decreasing engine performance. See needed cooler air for his plane to have lift for takeoff.
Inside Joint Base Charleston, three flights of stairs are painted gold with red letters on each step naming a different mission supported by local crews, starting in World War II.
The top states simply: "Wherever Needed Next."
When asked his biggest airdrop obstacle, See doesn't mention danger. "I wish that I could have done more and saved more lives."
