 One year ago, at 2.46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, Japan was struck by the most powerful earthquake ever to have hit the country. In the ensuing state of devastation, volunteers and U.S. forces from all over Japan scrambled to send relief. Despite what happened, things ran pretty smoothly. We had all our spots of the CBRN platoon, our division up there. Everything ran good. Jackson and other CBRN defense specialists were in charge of scrubbing planes that flew food and supplies into cities in need. I realized every person has to play their part, so the people actually do get there, can do their job, and actually do help them because we were cleaning the birds. Every time they came back, they had to get cleaned so they could go back out. Again, without us doing that, all the supplies and food that we dropped off and blankets and everything, all of that, not as many would have been able to get dropped off if our job wasn't done right. Lance Corporal Joshua IV, Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan.