Netflix's 'Operation Christmas Drop' Highlights a Real Humanitarian Mission by the U.S. Air Force
Netflix released Operation Christmas Drop, starring Kat Graham and Alexander Ludwig, on November 5.
The holiday movie highlights Operation Christmas Drop, the Department of Defense's longest-running humanitarian airlift still in operation.
The entire operation takes three weeks each year, and has been happening since 1952.
Although it's full of cute antics and clichés, Operation Christmas Drop isn't just another holiday love story. The all-new Netflix Christmas movie, which debuted on November 5, sheds light on a decades-old holiday tradition organized by the U.S. Air Force. Parts of the movie may be fictional (like the congressional aide on a mission to shut down underperforming Air Force bases), but the heart of the movie — Operation Christmas Drop — is indeed a real thing.
The humanitarian mission, which bears the same name as the Netflix movie, started in 1952, making it the longest-running U.S. Department of Defense mission in full operation and the longest-running humanitarian airlift in the world. It started by happenstance: In 1952, an aircrew noticed a group of people on the island of Kapingamarangi waving at them. In response, the aircrew dropped a box of supplies attached to a parachute, and they carried on the tradition from that point forward.
The basics are covered in the movie: The service men and women at Andersen Air Force Base and Yokota Air Base package donations from local businesses and residents in Guam, everything from bags of rice to toys. Once they attach parachutes to the containers packed with up to 400 pounds of supplies, they circle more than 50 remote islands in Micronesia, dropping an assortment of supplies to roughly 20,000 residents. The people there depend on the supplies to get through the year: The bags of rice can feed up to 500 people and the parachutes can be used to make sails for their boats, as pointed out by Miltary.com.
Watch this video to experience the real-life magic:
In the months leading up to annual Christmas drop, the U.S. Air Force relies on the support from local businesses — some people mail in monetary donations, others drop off donations at specified drop-off boxes, and hundreds of locals sort and package donations on the base. Some years, they have more targeted efforts, like when they dropped 25 boxes of IV fluids to Fais Island to combat an outbreak of dengue fever in 2011. Each year, the mission gets bigger and bigger, especially when they worked with the Air Self-Defense Force and the Royal Australian Air Force for assistance from 2015 to 2017.
But unlike the movie, Operation Christmas Drop isn't in jeopardy. In fact, the base is currently working on their 2020 drop and seeking donations for packages: hand tools, fishing equipment, school supplies, water purifiers, non-perishable food, educational toys, hygiene items, first aid kits, clothing, household items, and monetary support. If you feel inclined to donate in ways big or small, click here to find out how.
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