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Rations, known as HDRs, are loaded onto 747s and flown to Italy for the first leg of the trip

April 7, 1999
Web posted at: 5:50 a.m. EST (1050 GMT)

DOVER, Delaware (CNN) -- Step-by-step, humanitarian aid is reaching displaced Kosovars.

Every afternoon for the last four days, a six-member team of soldiers at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware loads 68,000 daily rations aboard Boeing 747s contracted to the U.S. military.

From Dover, the rations, part of 1.1 million pounds of food for the refugees, reach the faraway Kosovo border.

The loads are flown from Dover to Italy, transferred to C-130 cargo planes and taken to Tirana, Albania. From there, the meals are taken on a difficult trip to the Kosovo-Albania border by truck and helicopter.

Military officials expect the rations to be in the hands of the refugees within 24 hours after each plane takes off.

The humanitarian daily rations, known as HDRs in military parlance, are meatless and contain foods like rice, lentil stew, crackers and fruit bars. They are designed to be acceptable to refugees of any religion or ethnic background and for people who have been without food for a long time.

"They're very appropriate for anybody anywhere in the world," says Col. Felix Grieder. "They're high in nutrition and high in protein."

Four more flights will be needed to deliver the entire 500,000 daily ration packages that are part of the current $150 million U.S. effort to aid the growing number of refugees in Albania and Macedonia.

Large tents and meals are also being delivered from Travis Air Force Base in California.

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