FARGO, N.D. — The North Dakota Air National Guard worked through the weekend to load and send approximately 80 tons of equipment to the U.S. Virgin Islands to support hurricane relief efforts.
Twenty Airmen from the 119th Wing packed and loaded their Disaster Relief Beddown System (DRBS) onto six C-130s Hercules aircraft this past weekend for transport to the U.S. Virgin Islands. The DRBS package consists of temporary emergency shelter designed to house 150 people with a place to sleep, and includes showers, laundry facilities, latrines, water purification, generators and power distribution.
"These kits contain billeting, self-help Laundry, reverse osmosis water purification unit (ROWPU), which can produce up to 2,200 gallons per hour of potable water," said, Senior Master Sgt. Tim Laney, 119th Civil Engineer Squadron unit deployment manager. "We are also sending eight generators along with latrines and a big refrigerator unit."
Three members of the 119th Civil Engineer Squadron will accompany the DRBS to the U.S. Virgin Islands then hand off the system to units already in place.
"I could not be more proud of the men and women of the 119th wing in pulling together to provide Disaster Relief Beddown System assistance to the people impacted by Hurricanes Maria and Irma," said Col. Britt Hatley, 119th Wing commander. "Moving the DRBS forward was truly an Air National Guard-wide endeavor, from the Hooligans of the 119th Wing preparing, palletizing, loading, and flight following the DRBS onto C-130s from across the Air National Guard, through forward staging at the Georgia Air National Guard's 165th Airlift Wing, and final arrival at St Thomas."
The emergence of the Global War on Terrorism and events such as Hurricane Katrina facilitated the requirement of a rapidly deployable, sustainable and expandable housekeeping set to house military personnel in areas with little or no infrastructure.