A cargo pallet is parachuted from a C-17 Globemaster III over Pohakuloa Training Area, Hawaii, Nov. 8, 2025, as part of Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center combat training. (Samarion Hicks/U.S. Army)
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii — In just four days, an Army aerial delivery unit from Alaska packed more than 160 tons of gear onto parachute-rigged pallets to be dropped over Hawaii’s Big Island — a logistical surge at the heart one of the service’s largest Pacific combat exercises.
The 4th Quartermaster Theater Aerial Delivery Company, based at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, underpins airdrop operations for U.S. forces across the Indo-Pacific, especially in remote spots where parachuting supplies is the only lifeline.
Soldiers with the 4th Quartermaster Theater Aerial Delivery Company strap a Humvee onto a steel pallet at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Nov. 6, 2025. (Wyatt Olson/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers with the 4th Quartermaster Theater Aerial Delivery Company oversee the loading of a Humvee onto a pallet at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Nov. 6, 2025. (Wyatt Olson/Stars and Stripes)
“The uniqueness of the Pacific area is that it’s vast,” Capt. Cody Poos, the company’s commander, said Nov. 6 as about 60 soldiers prepared pallets inside a joint base hangar.
During the 15-day Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center exercise, which ended Monday, the company loaded everything from Humvees to barrels of water onto specialized 8-, 12- and 16-foot steel pallets.
Army Capt. Cody Poos, commander of the 4th Quartermaster Theater Aerial Delivery Company, stands by barrels of water at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Nov. 6, 2025. (Wyatt Olson/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers and airmen load a C-17 Globemaster III at Joint-Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Nov. 8, 2025, with a Humvee slated for an airdrop over the Big Island of Hawaii in support of the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center exercise. (Samarion Hicks/U.S. Army)
Each pallet was rigged with an elaborate system of parachutes, the first of which pulls the load out the back of an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III followed by additional chutes that carry it safely to the ground.
The pallets were dropped from about 1,000 feet onto the Pohakuloa Training Area, a sprawling expanse on Hawaii Island used heavily by the 25th Infantry Division during the drills. The unit later recovered the pallets for reuse.
Supply pallets parachute onto the Pohakuloa Training Area, Hawaii, Nov. 8, 2025, as part of Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center combat training. (U.S. Army)
“So if you need something quick, yes, barges can move, and boats can move, but it’s not going to be quick,” Poos said. “Yes, they can go to seaports, but there’s many islands, many locations, that just don’t have a deep enough draft or deep enough port. So aerial delivery gives that option. You can reach farther, you can reach faster, you can reach more precisely.”
