Pilots, jets return to SC base from Iraq

Shaw Air Force Base is welcoming home members of a fighter squadron after a four-month deployment in Iraq. Air Force officials say nine pilots and their F-16CJ fighter jets returned home on Thursday. The pilots and aircraft were stationed at a base in central Iraq. The Air Force says the remaining 300 members of the 55th Fighter Squadron and the 20th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron are expected to return to Shaw on Saturday.

One of the primary missions of F-16 pilots is to lure the enemy into firing surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery so the jets can hone in on them with their specialized radars and fire back to destroy them.

Troops return from Iraq
Family, friends welcome more than 300 airmen back to Shaw

http://www.theitem.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090131/ITNEWS01/702019962

By ANNABELLE ROBERTSON
Item Staff Writer
arobertson@theitem.com

More than 300 airmen returned to Shaw Air Force Base Saturday following a four-month deployment to Iraq. Members of the 55th Fighter Squadron and the 20th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, the troops arrived to the usual patriotic fanfare, as hordes of family and friends gathered inside and out of the flight hangar on base.

“We’re thrilled — oh, yes, so proud!” said Shirley White, whose son-in-law, Tech. Sgt. Mark Waldron, 36, was among them.

Wearing red, white and blue — including a flag scarf around her neck and a bejeweled flag pendant — White had gathered more than a dozen extended family members for Waldron’s arrival. Among them were Waldron’s wife, Kristi, 38, and their three children, Graham, 9, Karsyn, 6, and Kamdyn, 5. All wore patriotic colors from head to toe.

The girls even had flag-style bows in their hair. They started screaming as soon as their father appeared in the doorway of the commercial jet, which pulled right up to the hanger on base.

Keith Gedamke / The Item
Airmen exit the plane after returning from a four-month deployment to Iraq. “We are just truly an American family,” White said, grinning and wiping away her tears, and walking around like a professional greeter, patting airmen on the back, thanking them and welcoming them back home.

Less emotional, but just as glad to be home, were a group of single airmen who stood next to one another — much like they had in Iraq — joking around, while waiting for their gear to arrive on the trucks.

“Not really,” said Senior Airman Mike Radcliff, 24, about whether it was hard to not have family members on the ground to greet them.

Pointing to Airman Bradley Luke, 19, he added, “You see this guy? I’ve seen him every day for the past four months. I see him at mess, at PT (physical training), on the flightline, everywhere. Heck, if one morning I woke up and he wasn’t there, I got worried.”

“Don’t let him tell you he’s 21,” shouted Senior Airman Henry Hotard, 26. “He’s at least 30.”

Keith Gedamke / The Item
Members of the 55th Fighter Squadron receive a high five as their arrive on the flightline. “OK, I’m 29,” retorted Senior Airman Andrew Rogers as he lowered his sunglasses. “Can’t you tell?”

Zoe Sayles, 9 months, and her big brother Steven, 14, were all smiles as they greeted their daddy, Tech. Sgt. Steven Sayles, 39. An electrical environmental technician who works on F-16s, Sayles said that this was his first deployment, and that it hadn’t been nearly as bad as he imagined it might be.

“We were mostly in Balad, where it was pretty safe,” he explained, as he held his baby girl, planting kiss after kiss on her chubby cheeks. “And things are much better now than they were awhile back.”

Sayles’ wife, Santhipia, 38, found the deployment more challenging than she had imagined, however.

“It was hard, running around after this little one and trying to get her brother to school and to all of his basketball practices and games,” she said. “Also, his father wasn’t there for any of the games. That was hard. But we’re proud, very proud. And we’re very glad he’s home safe.”

Prior to the mass arrival, three smaller groups of airmen arrived in three waves on Friday and Saturday morning, respectively. Most were F-16CJ pilots and their maintenance teams.

Keith Gedamke / The Item
Beth Dunlap and her daughter Cami, 2, wait for their loved one to disembark from the plane at Shaw Air Force Base on Saturday. The 55th Fighter Squadron is one of three F-16CJ squadrons that maintains a mission-ready, multi-role capability to mobilize, deploy and tactically employ forces worldwide for any contingency in support of U.S. national objectives. They are responsible for providing the people and resources necessary for conventional air-to-surface, air superiority, suppression of enemy air defenses, destruction of enemy air defenses and maritime operations.

The 20th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron is responsible for flightline maintenance of F-16CJ aircraft. It prepares aircraft for combat operations worldwide to support Air Combat Command and warfighting commanders’ taskings in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility and flag, joint and combined exercises for the suppression and destruction of enemy air defenses. The squadron is also responsible for more than 750 personnel, nearly 16,000 flight hours and more than 11,000 sorties annually.

Contact Staff Writer Annabelle Robertson at arobertson@theitem.com or (803) 774-1250.

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