ep 40: Merry Christmas Drop

Merry Christmas! For 69-years the US Air Force has performed what has become the oldest continuing Department of Defense mission and the longest-running humanitarian airlift in the world. Every year, the multinational Operation Christmas Drop brings school supplies, clothing, rice, fishing equipment, and toys to more than 50 remote Pacific islands throughout the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau. Utilizing Air Force C-130J “Super Hercules” aircraft, the operation also gives the Airmen the opportunity to practice humanitarian aid drops, as they’ll later be expected to conduct drops over countries like Iraq or Afghanistan after deployment.

We remember…

MSgt (ret) Clyde “Andy” Anders, Jr.
“Uncle Clyde”
March 28, 1925 – October 30, 2020

RECAP. What happened this year?

We did 28 episodes this year, one every 2-weeks. We have close to 6,000 total downloads and new episodes average about 150 downloads within 30-days of release, which makes us bigger than half of the 75,000 podcasts on Libsyn, which is the oldest and most experienced podcast hosting platform. Shout-out to Libsyn!

We’ve had over 600 visitors to this website with more than 1,000 views. The top referrer is our Facebook page which has 99 followers.

Our most downloaded episodes: ep6: Darwin Awards; ep2: UFOs over Rendlesham Forest; ep14: Incentives with MSgt Kyle Green; ep1: The Hard Stand Monster of Alconbury; and ep12: Giant Voice

The top user agents: Apple Podcasts; Spotify; iHeart; Stitcher; Overcast; Amazon Music

Our podcast has been listened to in 26 countries, the top listening countries are: USA; India; United Kingdom; Ireland; Belgium; Australia

We’d like to give special thanks to our podcasts guests this year: Kyle Green; Christof Ambrosch from Tales of Honor Podcast; my wife, Cindy; Ron Barteau; and Juan Lewis, the Fired-Up Chief.

And thanks to our research assistant, Jen Barber, who is also our relationship manager.

And a BIG THANK YOU to everyone listening to our podcast, sharing it with others, liking it on social media, reviewing on iTunes, engaging with comments and feedback, and supporting the show with donations. We can’t begin to tell you how much we appreciate your involvement with the show.

PREVIEW. What’s on tap for Season 3?

Expect a new episode every 2 weeks

We’ll continue alternating military news and interesting military stories

Some of the stories we’ll be talking about are The Other War of 1812; Weird stuff like the L-8 Mystery; A-Bombs on the Moon; Operation BOLO; and more.

Notes:

Operation Christmas Drop takes off Dec. 5 for 69th annual mission
https://www.guampdn.com/story/news/local/2020/11/29/guam-operation-christmas-drop-donate-location-december-5-netflix/6435043002/

Micronesia drops out of Operation Christmas Drop over coronavirus fears
https://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/micronesia-drops-out-of-operation-christmas-drop-over-coronavirus-fears-1.654002

Operation Christmas Drop, long-running DoD operation, to take off with ‘socially distanced teams’
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/11/30/guam-operation-christmas-drop-donate-location-december-5-netflix/6466292002/

Donate to Operation Christmas Drop!
https://www.operationchristmasdrop.com/donate-now

Operation Christmas Drop Movie (2020)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13236566/

Chris and Jody are Air Force vets who enjoy military history and folklore. They have a podcast. They tell stories. They digress. A lot.

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