The Duchess of Cambridge returned to royal duties with a visit to RAF Brize Norton to thank the military personnel and volunteers involved with Operation Pitting, a large-scale humanitarian effort to help evacuate Afghanistan last month.
Operation Pitting, the largest humanitarian aid operation in over 70 years, saw 850 evacuees from Afghanistan transported by the Royal Air Force to RAF Brize Norton over a two-week period. In total, the British military forces helped evacuate 15,000 people.
Kate offered her thanks to some of those involved in the operation on behalf of The Queen. During the visit, she also toured a C17 Globemaster transporter plane, which was involved in the operation.
Wing Commander Calvin Bailey, who oversaw Operation Pitting, spoke with reporters after Kate’s visit and revealed that she’d held “very personal” conversations with some of the military personnel gathered and was “so engaging.”
Wing Commander Bailey said that the Duchess was interested in hearing about “the experience down the back of the plane, trying to picture what 460 people was like down there, what state they were in. How did they feel, talking about children, which seemed to connect to her. Being able to tap into the right thing is an art.”
He added: “She wanted to show that she had knowledge and understanding of the planes. We knew some people her husband worked with, and they got in touch. And there was one guy who was part of the course behind her husband. So, you know, there’s an instant connection there, and they want to tell their story. They want to say, this is hard. I did this. This is what I feel proud about. And she gave that to them today.”
Sergeant Mark Curtis, who was in charge of the evacuees, said about meeting Kate: “To meet the Duchess and for her to be so interested in and engaged with our stories was, was brilliant. We’re serving our queen, our country, the Royal Family. And obviously to have that level of, the boss coming along and, and patting you on your back for the hard work was amazing.”
Kensington Palace shared photos of the Duchess of Cambridge’s visit to the air force base with the caption, “Thank you to all the incredible people involved in #OperationPitting, the largest humanitarian aid operation for over 70 years, which saw 15,000 people flown out of Kabul in August by the @RoyalAirForce.”
