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by Master Sgt. Chuck Roberts
opening photo by Tech. Sgt. Keith Brown In an effort to bring peace and stability to Iraq, Airmen at Balad Air Base, Iraq, consistently face mortar and rocket attacks from an enemy focused on seeing them fail.
Maj. Gary Hankins, a psychologist who was at Balad in April, said Airmen at the base have seen some alarming things. On Good Friday more than 20 mortars and rockets were launched at the base, one of them killing Airman 1st Class Antoine J. Holt after striking his tent.
The major said his job was to help make sense of it all. But for him, too, “it was worse than I expected. This is all a new game to most of us. This is probably as bad as it gets. But on the other hand, I don’t think I’ve ever felt more needed or that I was making more of a difference. You’re just right in the middle of it,” said the weary and worn-looking major as he sat on a hospital cot late one night in the Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility.
His sentiments are prevalent among the nearly 2,000 Airmen deployed as part of the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing at Balad, located approximately 45 miles north of Baghdad. In February, the former Iraqi air base became the Air Force’s headquarters in Iraq, as well as a major hub for receiving and delivering supplies in theater. The base is home to HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters, F-16 Fighting Falcons, MQ-1 Predator, Desert Hawk and a constant flow of strategic and tactical airlift aircraft, including C-130s, C-17s, C-5s and civil cargo carriers.
Airmen are collocated with more than 20,000 Soldiers assigned to the 13th Corps Support Command responsible for the operation of Logistical Support Area Anaconda, the largest Army supply center in Iraq. Many, such as air traffic controllers and firefighters, share office space with their Army counterparts while others support the Army by providing security escorts for daily convoys delivering supplies to outlying military posts. Air Force transportation specialists man the convoys, to include the gun trucks used to protect military and civilian truckers.
Such cooperation has been likened to the Balad wing’s historical lineage — the Tuskegee Airmen. They were the first African-American U.S. military aviators in 1942 with the 332nd Fighter Group.
The Tuskegee Airmen also saw duty in hot climates such as Balad, where Airmen toil around the clock in temperatures averaging well above 100 degrees as they build base infrastructure, receive air cargo and launch aircraft within the drab confines of this former Iraqi air base. Now, at any moment, Airmen are subject to attack. In June, two Soldiers died during a daytime attack. Many Airmen such as Staff Sgt. Perry Colburn and Senior Airman Aubrey Fagan, have near-miss stories.
Fagan’s luck
On April 1, Airman Fagan had just refueled a C-5 Galaxy and was driving back to his work site when a rocket landed in front of his truck causing gravel to strike the windshield. He locked the brakes but skidded onto the rocket, embedding it halfway into the ground and bending its tail, but not setting it off.
In a previous incident, Airman Fagan was in a truck when two rockets exploded about 100 yards away. They were close enough for the percussion effect to feel like “someone ran up and pressed my chest in,” said Sergeant Colburn, the truck’s driver. All eight passengers and the truck were unscathed. Sergeant Colburn put it down as “Fagan’s luck.”
“See, that’s why I hug you every morning. You’re my lucky charm,” the sergeant joked to Airman Fagan about the ritual he conducts each morning.
Capt. Kristen Snow, chief of flight safety, recalled watching a plume of smoke rise from a rocket explosion about 300 feet away from the exact spot she had just been.
She was stunned by such attacks when she first arrived, but soon grew accustomed to them.
“You realize there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it, so you get a thick skin and go about your business.” As for her near miss, and many others she pointed out, “I just hope those continue,” she said shortly before her deployment ended in June.
On goes the mission
Despite enemy attacks, Airmen go about their business, such as supporting an aeromedical aircraft ready to depart with patients, said Col. Rebecca Garcia, commander of the 332nd Expeditionary Maintenance Group. She pointed out the entry point to the flightline where splattered scars of a mortar attack penetrated the door of a “follow-me” truck but left the driver unharmed. Doing business in alarm red isn’t something one normally does back home during an inspection, she said. But the Air Force is in new territory.
“The enemy changes the rules, we have to change the rules,” Colonel Garcia said.
The colonel said for crews who provide basic “gas-and-go” maintenance each week to about 220 aircraft there’s little time to worry about the next attack.
From March through May, approximately 70 members of the flight moved nearly 68,000 passengers and 90 tons of cargo ranging from “anything and everything,” said Capt. Zack Jensen, flight commander.
He said the pace can get as hot as the temperature when several jets land almost simultaneously after being forced to remain in a holding pattern because of an attack. But the job gets done, he added.
Attacks on the base continue as modernization presses on, including transforming from a tent city to trailers.
At the root of the base upgrade is Maj. Eric Higgs, officer in charge of engineering and installations. His small crew of 18 Air National Guardsmen is literally laying the groundwork for a better Balad through the miles of copper and fiber cables they’ve installed to improve telephone and computer service.
“If you want to feel part of something, Balad is the place to be,” he said. “You know you’re really in the deep here. We’re making history. We’re doing something that hasn’t been done historically.”
Fighting back
Balad received more than 50 percent of the attacks at airfields in the country, according to a wing mission brief. Balad, however, is fighting back.
Doing so includes Airman 1st Class Christopher Perry, a 21-year-old sensor operator who arrived at Balad direct from technical school. His job is to sit beside the pilot at the ground control station and operate sensors for the Predator that can deliver video of the enemy below.
The Point Pleasant, N.J., native said it’s “amazing to look down and see the bad guys” launching an attack on the base.
The Predator crew has successfully launched its Hellfire missiles against enemy targets, said Maj. Larry Gurgainous, 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron commander. Crews have also guided quick reaction forces to the enemy.
Base defense missions such as these are new for the Predator, which was originally designed for intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance gathering on flights as long as 20 hours.
“We’re moving closer into combat than anyone expected,” said Major Gurgainous, a C-130 pilot by trade. And in doing so, the Predator performed better than expected while logging records for both sorties and hours flown, he said.
That keeps Staff Sgt. David Miranda, a Predator dedicated crew chief, hard at work. But he doesn’t mind, knowing his work is paying huge dividends.
“If we can let them [ground troops] know what’s going on, that save lives,” he said.
So does the Desert Hawk, said Staff Sgt. Jason McQuarrie of the pint-sized, 7-pound Styrofoam aircraft launched with a bungee cord. Once airborne it flies low and slow around the base and provides live imagery to spot terrorists before or after they launch a mortar attack. It can also provide reconnaissance for an Army patrol or direct an Army team in the middle of a firefight, said Sergeant McQuarrie, noncommissioned officer in charge of the Force Protection Aerial Surveillance System, known as Desert Hawk.
During a Desert Hawk demonstration flight, an F-16 roared overhead. The jet is from the 332nd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron that includes Air National Guard units from Colorado, Montana and New Mexico. The F-16 is another airframe that, in addition to its primary role of providing close air support, has been used for gathering intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
For 1st Lt. Teneyck Latourette, an F-16 pilot, it can mean getting direct feedback from the customer. That’s been the case with Soldiers whose convoy the lieutenant flew over in the morning. Some recognized his flight suit at the dinner table and asked, “Was that you I saw overhead today? Thanks for looking out for us.”
Giving hope
In addition to giving fight to the enemy, Airmen know it’s equally important to give hope to the majority of Iraqis who seek peace for themselves and their nation.
“We’re here to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people,” said Tech. Sgt. Noël York, noncommissioned officer of the Tuskegee Chapel, easily identified by a steeple with artillery casings suspended by parachute cord in place of bells. “We are all involved in this,” the 35 year old said.
The chapel was instrumental in donating school supplies and toys to a local village. Additionally, the base spent approximately $50,000 renovating a school in the village, and more such involvement is on the agenda, said Lt. Col. James Mitnik, chief of plans and programs.
“It tells them you care about them instead of coming in and conquering. That’s all we’re trying to do — help them,” the colonel said. ~*~ |
