ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam -- U.S. Air Force Airmen with the 11th Air Task Force and its subordinate units got into the holiday spirit while deployed to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam by volunteering with Operation Christmas Drop on Dec. 6, 2025. The Airmen spent their morning filling an "11th ATF" bundle with food, supplies, educational materials and toys.
Operation Christmas Drop is the Department of Defense’s longest-running humanitarian airlift operation. The tradition began during the Christmas season in 1952 when a B-29 Superfortress aircrew saw islanders waving at them from the island of Kapingamarangi, 3,500 miles southwest of Hawaii. In the spirit of Christmas the aircrew dropped a bundle of supplies attached to a parachute to the islanders below, giving the operation its name. Today, air drop operations include more than 50 islands throughout the Pacific.