2010020405

Raleigh’s Own Jeff Satterwhite Helps Bring Food To Haiti

By R.Gregg, The Raleigh Telegram

Thursday, February 4, 2010

PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI - As they say, it’s a small world and a recent experience proved it.

After several days of being embedded with the 82nd Airborne troops in Haiti who were giving out humanitarian aid in the wake of the earthquake, I boarded a US Air Force C-17 commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Robert Atkatz that was bound for the United States.

Wearing a hat that said “Raleigh” on the front of it, a member of the airplane’s crew said “Hey, I’m from Raleigh.”

What are the chances that out of all of the military airplanes in the world, I would step onto one with a crew member from Raleigh?

It turns out the Raleigh native was none other than Major Jeff Satterwhite, who I had met previously through a family member back in North Carolina.

Major Satterwhite had served in the United States Air Force for several years as a full time active duty crewmember before later joining the reserves, where he hopes to continue serving for several years.

As a reservist, Satterwhite began operating out of Charleston, South Carolina with the 701st Airlift Squadron which is part of the 315th Airlift Wing. The patch for the 701st sports a turtle with wings hauling a lot of supplies on his back.

The 315th is the reserve counterpart to the 437th Airlift Wing, also stationed at Charleston Air Force Base.

When he’s not helping to keep large military transports in the air, Satterwhite runs a successful real estate firm called Centerline Realty & Development, which is a builder of Energy-Star compliant homes and offices in Raleigh and on the coast of North Carolina.

Not far from Southport, where Satterwhite has built many homes, the 315th Airlift Wing flies out of Charleston in support of US military operations around the world, including the recent humanitarian missions to Haiti.

Operating the massive C-17A Globemaster III, the airlift wing usually has the largest airplanes on the runway. The four engine jet plane is huge and one C-130 crew member joked to me that if you took the wings off a C-130, you could probably fit it inside the cargo hold of the C-17.

After boarding the C-17, I begin to believe that he is right -- the inside of this plane is cavernous.

Major Satterwhite tells me that their crew have made a couple of trips to Haiti and on this particular return mission, they are carrying US citizens and Air Force metal palettes back to the states.

Tagging along for the ride are myself and a reporter from UPI as well as a Charleston TV crew who are filming the C-17’s mission for the evening news.

Although it was great to meet all of the soldiers in the 82nd Airborne during my trip to Haiti, I can’t tell you the elation that you comes over you when you realize you’re headed back to the good old United States of Amerca.

Perhaps, Americans have it too easy, but I looked forward to saying goodbye to dusty streets and mosquitoes and hello to warm showers and hamburgers.

Once on board, the crew members offer us a Subway sandwich, which I eagerly accept as my first non-MRE meal in about a week.

It was like eating a chocolate pie after being on a diet for a month and if Subway wants to make a fortune, they should set up a restaurant somewhere near a military outpost in Haiti.

The doors were still open on the C-17 as we began to back up onto the runway and soon we were barrelling down the tarmac on our way back to the US. [click here to watch a short video]

Compared to the C-130, the C-17 built by McDonnell-Douglas is a relatively quiet airplane and I don’t need the airplugs that are offered by the crew.

The next stop was Orlando, where most of the people got off, but as the plane was headed back to Charleston, I stayed aboard since I was trying to make my way back to Raleigh.

After we landed in Charleston, Lieutenant Colonel Al Larkins was kind enough to give me a couple of cheeseburgers that he had from Burger King and after eating meals that came in a brown plastic bag all week, I thankfully accepted the offer.

When I stepped off the airplane, it was cold compared to the tropical heat in Haiti, but it felt good to me. It was good to be back in the United States.

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SPECIAL THANKS: The Raleigh Telegram’s editor would like to extend our sincere thanks to Major Satterwhite and Lt. Col. Larkin for helping him get a rental car in Charleston so that he could return to Raleigh. Without their help, he would have been stuck there on the ground for quite some time.