Blast From The Past – Winter 1994 – People go about their daily life as they visit Moscow’s Red Square. It was taken during “Provide Hope” a humanitarian operation conducted by the U.S. Air Force to provide medical equipment to former Soviet republics during their transition to capitalism.
Just about everywhere I visited on photo assignments for the Air Force we were able to get out and tour around on our own most of time and Moscow was really no exception. I found the people on the street to be friendly and open to Americans for the most part. I know we were watched to some degree while we were in some countries, especially since our job was to take pictures! I can’t say for sure, but the guy looking back in my direction in the center of the frame seemed to be around a lot during our time out walking around, but maybe I was being paranoid!
During Operation Provide Hope, Sixty-five C-5 and C-141 missions flew 2,363 short tons (2,144 t) of food and medical supplies to 24 locations in the Commonwealth of Independent States during the initial launch. Much of these supplies was left over from the buildup to the Persian Gulf War.
For nearly two weeks, US Air Force C-5A’s and C-141’s delivered several hundred tons of emergency food, medicines, and medical supplies to all twelve new independent states of the former Soviet Union, not only to each capital city but also to several outlying cities, especially across Russia. Small teams of US personnel from various government agencies (On-Site Inspection Agency, USAID, and USDA) had been placed in each destination shortly before the deliveries, to coordinate with local officials and to monitor to the best extent possible that the deliveries reached the intended recipients (i.e., orphanages, hospitals, soup kitchens, and needy families).
For 6-months of this operation I was the photo editor for a Combat Camera team that worked out of Aviano, Italy covering the operations.