MARINE CORPS AIR STATION KANEOHE BAY -- After six hours of loading three helicopters and two large pallets of supplies, 12 men attached to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 362 “The Ugly Angels” are damp with sweat. They walk back to Hangar 105 to meet their families. They sit down to eat, their last meal with loved ones before leaving for six months. Everyone is smiling but emotions are hard to read at 20 minutes to take off.
This last group from HMH-362 deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom Tuesday from Hangar 105. Consisting of five Marines from Marine Air Logistics Squadron and seven from HMH-362, they will join the main body that left recently.
Marines and airmen joined forces to load the birds and parts onto a C-17 Globemaster III and a Russian Volga-Dnepr An-124 cargo plane.
The Ugly Angels will provide heavy lift assault support of combat troops, equipment, and supplies, day or night during combat, contingencies or peacetime operations during their deployment.
It was hard to say goodbye, even for families who knew what to expect.
“Being away from him will be hard,” Lance Cpl. Britt B. Churchill’s wife said with watery eyes. “Knowing the living conditions, worrying about what’s going on and that he’s going to miss the holidays will be, too.”
It’s time to go. You can see the peoples moods abruptly change, like someone dropped a brick in the pit of their stomach. Couples exchanged last minute goodbyes as tears left small trails through make-up.
“Bye uncle Britt!,” said Lance Cpl. Britt B. Churchill’s stepson as he waved.
Churchill spun around with a huge grin and swang his arm as high as he could a few times before disappearing from the stairs into a roaring C-17.