Posted on 04/21/2007 6:46:56 PM PDT by SandRat
4/20/2007 - GILA BEND, Ariz. (AFNEWS) -- Missouri fighter wing goes to wild, wild west
From the ground, the Barry M. Goldwater Range looks like the set of a 1960's Clint Eastwood spaghetti western.
The air is dry enough to taste, and the ground sprouts an occasional cactus. The mind can only envision what creepy kinds of scorpions scurry along these barren sands near Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field.
This is home for rattlesnakes, Gila monsters, road runners and endangered antelope. Earlier this year, it was a target for many of the 442nd Fighter Wing's bombs in an operation fittingly called Patriot Rattlesnake.
The range is more than 1.7 million acres of relatively undisturbed Sonoran Desert in southwest Arizona some 40 miles north of the Mexican border. According to many of the 303rd Fighter Squadron's pilots from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., it is one of the best places in the continental United States to practice their craft.
"The training environment is truly phenomenal," said Lt. Col. Paul Caulwell of the Air Force Reserve Command's 303rd Fighter Squadron. "The desert floor and the mountains enable us to drop ordnance we don't normally get to use on sorties back home."
The type of maneuvers Colonel Caulwell referred to were difficult ridge crossings, simulated air-to-air combat with F-16 Fighting Falcons from nearby Luke AFB, Ariz., and shooting live rockets -- things only possible because of the immense size of the range and its miles of overhead airspace.
"We're required to do live weapons drops once a year anyway," Colonel Caulwell said. "The flying, the live drops, the different air space makes for a great flying environment all the way around."
According to Teresa Walker, a public affairs specialist with the 56th Fighter Wing's Range Management Office at Luke AFB, it's a popular location for military aviators.
"Nearly every pilot in the military at one time or another does a portion of their training here at Barry M. Goldwater Range," Ms. Walker said. "More than 50 aircraft may operate simultaneously on the range while performing many independent training operations."
While pilots of the 303rd Fighter Squadron were blasting, bombing and strafing targets on this barren desert ground, Senior Airman Stephanie Couch, a munitions systems technician with the 442nd Maintenance Squadron's munitions flight was back at Davis-Monthan AFB, near Tucson, Ariz., experiencing her first annual tour building bombs.
"It's been a real learning experience for me," Airman Crouch said. "I've never dealt with live munitions until now. I've had a fun time learning my job -- everyone is so helpful in teaching me."
The Arizona exercise, as with any military training had lessons for everyone.
"This is real experience for our younger troops, getting to pack up and work in a different environment in which you're not familiar," said Tech. Sgt. Brad Fidlar, 442nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron A-10 Thunderbolt II crew chief. "This is always great training and great preparation for an overseas deployment."
Sergeant Fidlar says the desert training also presents new challenges.
"The environment is dry, and there's a 40-degree difference between day and night," he said. "Seals expand and contract giving you different kinds of maintenance problems and my job depends on what breaks."
For Tech. Sgt. Michael Estrada, a loader for the 442nd AMXS, the Arizona desert's winter climate and lack of humidity affected his endurance.
"The weather is much dryer, but it's cool too, which has a physical effect on you," Sergeant Estrada said. "Since you aren't perspiring you don't realize you're dehydrating. If you forget to drink water, your mouth starts to get dry and you start to make mistakes. You get nose bleeds and you have to apply lots of sun screen and moisturizer."
Despite the climactic concerns, Colonel Caulwell summed up the entire exercise with precision.
"It's nice to have a real desert environment to train in and at the end of the day, getting to go to downtown Tucson and eat instead of the chow hall - well you can't beat it," he said.
These A-10’s used to be based a few miles from my house at the old Richards-Gebaur AFB south of Kansas City. It was cool to see these planes in the air all the time and hear that loud, weird howl they make.
Endangered antelope??????????????? Not in WY. Heck they build fences around the interstate so you will not get killed by the beast. Good eating. Better than deer.
Sonoran Pronghorn numbers are decreasing. Drought and coyotes have been very bad for yearling survival rates.
We used to have a huntable herd here at Ft. Huachuca, but not no’ mo’.
Endangered does not mean local and endangered, and antelope is a term that encompasses a number of species. At White Sands, they seed a population of ibex, wildebeest, gazelle, and various other exotic species. It's really weird, let me tell ya, to see herds of African grazers galloping across New Mexico. But they're there.
WSMR brings in hunters every now and then to control the population, and they also trap and repatriate animals back to Africa to replenish the endangered populations there. Why not? Most of that land is unused most of the time, and it ain't like the brush was going to eat itself.
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