ARLINGTON,  Va., - The Air National Guard’s Building Partnerships cell wants to build  off of last year’s successful airlift of traditional holiday care packages to  Polish and international troops deployed in support of Operation Enduring  Freedom.
Last  November, the Air Force’s International Affairs office contacted the cell with  a dilemma, said Air Force Lt. Col. David Palmer, the chief of the partnership cell.
The  office was working with the American Polish Forum (APF) of Washington, D.C., to  deliver traditional holiday care packages, which included American and Polish  sweets, hand-written cards and “optatek,” a traditional Polish Christmas wafer. 
“The  issue was, they had little funding and they were running out of time,” Palmer  said.
After  making several attempts to find someone to ship these goods, a commercial  carrier stepped up and airlifted the goods from Andrews Air Force Base, Md., to  Ramstein AFB in Germany, he said. 
Once  they reached Germany, U.S. Air Forces Europe handled the delivery of the  packages to troops in Bagram. They were delivered just before the New Year.
“We  had a never give up attitude,” Palmer said. “We could have dropped it and  walked away, but we didn’t.”
This  year, the Building Partnership cell is being proactive with this project.
“We  are working with the APF already to ensure that we can find the right  sponsorship that will allow us to deliver these goods to the troops fighting  with us,” said Palmer. “I just feel that we are doing something to pay them  back for their sacrifice.”
The  Air National Guard is helping to develop a new Air Force service core function  that focuses on building international relationships that may prevent future  conflicts.