Gabreski's 106th Rescue Wing Completes Medical Supply Drop To Sailboat 1,200 Miles East Of Long Island

As the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing prepared to fly a mission to deliver medical supplies to a sailboat 1,200 miles east of Long Island, a key role still needed to be filled.

The HC-130J Combat King II search-and-rescue aircraft crew needed someone who could act as translator for the Spanish-speaking crew of the sailboat, on which a 23-year-old Colombian woman was suffering from second- and third-degree burns.

The 106th found its bilingual crew member in Senior Airman Jocelyn Tapia-Puma, an aviation resource manager whose role includes ensuring the coordination of aircraft and crew so missions run as smoothly as possible. Being a crew member herself goes above and beyond her normal duties — but she stepped up and joined the successful mission.

Lieutenant Colonel Sean Garell, the aircraft commander, explained during a press conference Monday at Gabreski Air National Guard Base in Westhampton that on the night before the mission, the 106th was still unable to find a Spanish-speaking aviator. Fortunately, Tapia-Puma, who is fluent in Spanish, works 20 feet from his office.

The 106th quickly attained the approvals for Tapia-Puma to be on the plane the next morning.

“I’m so thankful that I was able to help support the mission and be part of the great team that we have behind me,” Tapia-Puma said, gesturing to her 106th colleagues. “We’re always working together, and to be part of this rescue, I’m so proud that we were able to help out the three crew members that were out there on the boat. It was very touching, at the end, knowing that we were able to help them and provide equipment that they needed.”

The 32-foot French-flagged vessel Namah had three people on board: one woman and two men, all Spanish speaking. The sailboat was en route from Panama to St. Jean de Lux, France, when boiling water burned the woman’s leg and abdomen, according to the 106th.

The U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center in Boston was notified on Thursday, May 19, of the injury and the need for a medical resupply, and the 106th was tasked with the mission.

The crew took off from Gabreski at 8 a.m. on Friday and flew for three and a half hours, including navigating around storms, to get to Namah, which was fortunately located on calm seas with a clear sky during the medical bundle drop.

Garell said once the HC-130J descended into the “objective area” it only took a few minutes of electronic searching to identify the boat. The plane crew was unable to communicate with the boat over emergency frequencies but spotted the crew waving. “They had a rowboat ready for us, so we began to execute,” he said.

Two drops were made. Each weighed 20 pounds, contained burn relief supplies and had small parachutes. They were also outfitted with life preserver units to keep them afloat, Garell noted.

“We made sure they were able to get the two bundles, and then we hung out overhead, made sure they were able to bring them back, that they were still intact,” he said.

The HC-130J crew was able to make radio contact with the boat’s crew, including the victim herself, whose name, they learned, is Andrea, Garell said.

“Something we learn in survival school: You can go three weeks without food, three days without water, three hours without shelter, three minutes without air — and, for humans, you can go three seconds without hope,” he said. “So Airman Tapia-Puma was able to provide that hope.”

Tapia-Puma said she told Andrea who they are and that they are representing New York. “She was very thankful,” she said. “She started crying, and it kind of touched all of us, I believe, to let them know that there is someone to help them at all times. I think that’s what our mission is and what we represent as a wing.”

After the drop, the HC-130J flew four and a half hours back to Gabreski.

“It was a team effort that took a lot of coordination: Coast Guard, Air Force, Air National Guard,” Garell said, adding that Canadians were also part of the effort and the 106th’s own Guardian Angel unit prepared the medical kits with the appropriate care items.

“I’m extremely proud of the work that all our airmen do,” said Colonel Shawn Fitzgerald, the commander of the 106th Rescue Wing. “It’s something that we strive for every day in terms of training, and although we are primarily focused on conducting our rescue missions overseas, we have the ability to do it here in the homeland for domestic operations or in this case here, in a permissive environment off the Atlantic Ocean. And it’s already rewarding for us to be able to conduct these rescues, or aid in a rescue, and provide some sort of comfort to those that need it.”

Namah is now en route to the Azores, an archipelago 870 miles west of Portugal, and is expected to arrive on June 3.