U.S. marines with Joint Task Force-Leeward Islands stack boxes of tarps from the U.S. Agency for International Development as they prepare supplies for distribution at Douglas-Charles Airport in Melville Hall, Dominica.Joint Task Force-Leeward Islands (JTF-LI) is providing disaster relief support to Dominica in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. The task force previously provided assistance to St. Martin after Hurricane Irma. The task force’s mission is to support USAID relief operations in order to save and sustain lives and reduce human suffering. At the request of USAID, JTF-LI has deployed aircraft and service members to assist in delivering relief supplies to Dominica in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. The task force is a U.S. military unit composed of marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen, and represents U.S. Southern Command’s primary response to the hurricanes that have affected the eastern Caribbean.