Saturday, April 14, 2001

By Donovan Brooks, Guam bureau chief

ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE — The EP-3E crew feasted on pizza, beef tenderloin, fried chicken and apple pie, an "all-American meal," Thursday on Guam.

It was the first meal in 12 days on U.S. soil for the crew, detained in Hainan Island, China, after a collision with a Chinese fighter.

The food was just one part of extensive planning by the Navy and Air Force that went into preparations for receiving the 24 crewmembers, Commander, Naval Forces Marianas Rear Adm. Tom Fellin said.

"There was a lot of planning. We were following direction from Hawaii, from higher headquarters," said Fellin.

Although various options were considered, Guam was chosen to be the crew’s first stop because of its proximity to China, Fellin said. The crew was ferried from Hainan on a Continental Airlines jet.

"This validates Guam as the farthest-west point of the United States. What a great feeling it must have been for these men and women to touch down on U.S. soil just five hours from China," Fellin said. "Guam was the right choice."

Andersen’s 36th Air Base Wing vice commander, Col. Ned Schoeck, said the base was told April 6 that the crew might be brought to Guam.

An advance team of about 30 people from Pacific Command in Hawaii; Kadena Air Base, Okinawa; and the Whidbey Island base where the EP-3E crew is based came to Andersen to oversee preparations, Schoeck said.

Working from a proposed plan sent from Pacific Command, base officials first set up secure communications from Guam to PACOM and Kadena Air Base, where the spy plane had taken off from.

Andersen had medical technicians ready in case treatment was needed, but none was required. A Navy medical technician flew on the chartered 737 and assessed the condition of all the crewmembers as they flew to Guam, Schoeck said.

Andersen’s services division arranged for the crew to have private rooms in base billeting, to shower and change into fresh uniforms brought from Kadena. The rooms were personalized with each crewmember’s name on the door.

Phone service in the rooms allowed the men and women to call home, Schoeck said, and 21 of the crewmembers had haircuts by barbers brought to the facility. The crew also appreciated the fresh chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies and the bags of personal hygiene items left in their rooms, he said.

Andersen’s security unit had to secure the billeting area, because only the advance team and a few others were allowed access to the crew.

"They were sequestered because they hadn’t been debriefed," Schoeck said. "They were told what they could and could not say to their families."

Andersen routinely handles large contingencies, like when thousands of Kurdish refugees fleeing persecution in Iraq were brought in for political asylum processing, so this event was small by comparison.

"But it was very intense," Schoeck said.

And the preparation was done quietly.

"About 95 percent of the base didn’t know," he said.

"It was a tremendous base effort" by those who were involved, Schoeck said. "When people come to our base with a mission, it becomes our mission."

At Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., the 14th Airlift Squadron was waiting to be called on to transport the crew if they were released, squadron commander Lt. Col. Bill Changose said by telephone.

"We are just tickled pink to be a part of it," he said.

The unit has planes on cargo missions at all times all over the world, Changose said.

The six-person C-17 crew’s performance was a tribute to the unit’s readiness, Changose said.

One of the few outside agencies to be involved was Continental Airlines, which was asked a week ago to have on standby a plane capable of taking off within three hours of notification, senior operations director Tom Rinow said.

Continental had to preselect a crew and send all their personal information including passport numbers to the U.S. Embassy in China, Rinow said.

The airline provided first-class meals to the EP-3E crew, and included on the plane all its current in-flight movies.

The crew chose to watch a pair of inspirational flicks, one about the military, Men of Honor, and the other about sports, Remember the Titans, Rinow said.

Guam Gov. Carl Guiterrez, holding small U.S. and Guam flags, greeted the crewmembers as they stepped off the chartered 737, and saw them climb aboard the "Spirit of Bob Hope" to fly to Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.

"We were all praying," Gutierrez said. "I’m happy it’s over."

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