Posted on 09/06/2005 6:59:11 PM PDT by SandRat
Total of 1,500 will go to combat, other areas
Brooke McDonough smiled bravely Monday morning as her husband, Lt. Col. Marty McDonough, slowly guided his A-10 fighter jet down the runway at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.
The airman was one of about 50 who took off from the base Monday, the first wave of about 1,500 D-M personnel who will be sent this month to combat theaters in Iraq and Afghanistan and other sites overseas.
McDonough and other members of D-M's 354th Fighter Squadron will provide cover for Marines and soldiers on the ground.
It will be January before McDonough - second in command of the 354th - returns to Tucson from Southwest Asia. The Air Force will identify only the general region to which its troops are deployed.
"It's incredibly hard for us here at home," Brooke McDonough said as her three little girls - Mary Frances, 8; Elizabeth, 7; and Eleanor, 4 - mingled with other children whose fathers were saying goodbye.
"We just try to keep busy and keep them in our thoughts all the time," she said. "We'll just be really glad to have them home."
What's the hardest part about today, a reporter asked her just minutes before the first of the fighter jets headed out.
"Tonight," she said, without hesitation. "And it goes on from there. But I'm very blessed to have these three girls to keep me busy. My husband and I are both very confident in the job our country is doing. I'm very proud of him, of all of them."
The 16 pilots are accompanied by about 35 members of the 355th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, support personnel who include Sgt. Robert Losoya, a jet-engine mechanic. He has been overseas before, but this was Losoya's first deployment from Davis-Monthan, where he and his family have lived since March 2004, he said.
Bidding him farewell Monday were his wife, Cassandra, their three children - Brianna, 9; Robert, 7; and Olivia, 2 - and Cassandra's mother, Emma Munoz.
"Having them come home safe is the best thing we can hope for," Cassandra said.
First Lt. Russell Campbell smiled confidently as he talked about having just recently finished training.
"It can be nerve-racking," Campbell said of what will be his first time in combat. "I'm real honored to go."
Capt. Steve Raspet threw kisses to his wife, Lynne, and their three children from the open cockpit of his A-10, then headed down the runway. Since early 2002 he also has served in South Korea and Afghanistan.
"Harder this time," said 6-year-old Eliana, who took comfort from her blanket and her mother's embrace. She's the big sister to brother Z-Z, 4, and 5-month-old Lucia.
"I think he's going to miss a lot of changes in the children, a lot of growing," Lynne said. "But he should be home in January."
D-M PING USAF PING
Where is Davis-Monthan?
God bless those brave fly-boys who are doing the heavy lifting for us...not to mention for the Marines and Army guys they'll be providing cover for!
Arizona I think..
A-10'S are too cool.
You're right...Tucson.
Thanks!
Visited D-M in the late 70s...the Bone Yard was amazing.
Seeing row upon row of B52s...some without wings, 60% in disrepair and all grown up in weeds...that Jimmy Carter considered combat ready in the SALT-II talks was quite sobering, to say the least.
They still have F-18s, F-15s, F-4s and some others that I can't remember on the mothball side covered in the protective cocoon.
Oh gawd, what a long ride in a 300 mph airplane!!
BTT!!!
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