JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. –
More than 5,000 toys were donated by service members from North and South Carolina for Operation Toy Drop 2010, which began Dec. 10. The toys collected will be organized by age and gender and then delivered to deserving military and civilian children throughout the Carolinas.
Despite inclement weather, U.S. and allied nation paratroopers did not shy away from donating toys during the 13th annual Randy Older Memorial Operation Toy Drop. Along with the 437th Airlift Wing, Pope Air Force Base's 440th Airlift Wing and the North Carolina and West Virginia Air National Guard provided crews and aircraft for the paratroopers to make their jump.
"This was the first time everyone in (aircraft) Rudolph 1-2 participated in Operation Toy Drop," said Maj. Harold Cramer, 17th Airlift Squadron pilot. "It's absolutely wonderful that we can combine forces to train for every day operations as well as give something back to the community."
Operation Toy Drop is the world's largest combined airborne operation. Jumpmasters from Botswana, Canada, Chile, Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Poland and Thailand participated in the event. Operation Toy Drop is an airborne training event where Soldiers are encouraged to donate a toy for a chance to earn foreign airborne or "jump" wings. These wings are obtained when a U.S. military service member conducts multi-national airborne operations with a foreign-service jumpmaster.
By training with other nations, American paratroopers have the opportunity to exchange allied airborne operations techniques and jumpmaster proficiencies. They also begin to develop a working relationship with a force they very well may team with one day to engage a common enemy.
Operation Toy Drop started out as a small mission, with about 800 paratroopers jumping. As word spread through the years, Operation Toy Drop's popularity escalated and now brings in approximately 4,000 paratroopers annually. The event attracts more interested paratroopers than there are parachutes and time available.
The 437 AW contributed two of their C-17s for this training mission. Rudolph 1-1 and Rudolph 1-2 flew to the drop zone as single ships for the drop off. Upon reaching the drop zone, it was up to the loadmasters to make sure everything ran smoothly.
"Senior Airman Raheem Crockett and Staff Sgt. Cody Barry, 17 AS Loadmasters, did an excellent job," said Capt. Christopher Carson, 17 AS pilot. "They were very well equipped for the job and made sure all the little things were taken care of for the paratrooper's jump. They spent most of their time hooking up lines and coordinating with jumpmasters."
During Operation Toy Drop, air crews flew the paratroopers out to the Sicily drop zone just outside of Fort Bragg, N.C., where large crowds gathered despite the near freezing temperatures to witness the event. By mid-day, severe weather forced planners to reschedule the day's remaining jumps to this weekend.