ONBOARD AN AIR FORCE C-17 OVER HAITI (CNN) -- Bypassing the gridlock of Haiti's main airport and congestion of roadways in the earthquake-ravaged country, the U.S. military delivered badly needed food and water on Monday by parachute. A C-17 cargo plane left Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina shortly after noon, and three hours later dropped 40 pallets -- or "bundles" as the Air Force refers to them as -- holding bottled water and Meals, Ready-to-Eat, or MREs, on a field just north of the Port-au-Prince airport in Haiti. It was the first airdrop of humanitarian supplies by the U.S. military into Haiti since the deadly earthquake there nearly a week ago.
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40 pallets with bottled water and Meals, Ready-to-Eat, dropped on a field just north airport
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First airdrop of humanitarian supplies by the U.S. military into Haiti since quake
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Mission was success says U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Leon Strickland
The @placeholder are much less susceptible to damage during airdrops.