Airmen Help in Blast Aftermath

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org

Airmen from the 455th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron recently helped shelter and comfort victims of a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device blast in Kabul, Afghanistan. The men, all deployed to Bagram, were in Kabul to inspect equipment for air transport out of Afghanistan and had just finished dinner when they heard the boom, according to a press release. TSgt. Chad Huggins, deployed from Dover AFB, Del., was outside the restaurant talking on the phone when he saw and felt the explosion, which was on the civilian side of the Kabul airport. “I got pushed into the wall and my phone went flying. I don’t even know how to explain it,” he said. Huggins, MSgt. Matthew Longshaw, of the Utah Air National Guard; SSgt. Tobi Wagner, of Little Rock AFB, Ark., and A1C. John Michael Aradanas, of McChord AFB, Wash., went to try to help. They helped set up temporary lodging for the civilians—mainly contractors—who were injured in the explosion, then stayed for eight hours to assist the medical team. “It brought you back down to reality real quick,” Wagner said. “I think we did everything that we could’ve possibly done. You sit and listen, which is really what we did. I think that helped a lot of people.”

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org