''Ironmen'' pilots return to Langley Air Force Base
By SONJA BARISIC, Associated Press
© April 25, 2003
Last updated: 7:39 PMHAMPTON -- A dozen F-15C fighter pilots who patrolled the skies over Iraq against enemy aircraft during the war came home Thursday to cheers and beers.
About 70 wives, girlfriends, children and friends rushed toward the flight line at Langley Air Force Base to greet the ``Ironmen'' of the 71st Fighter Squadron as they climbed out of their single-seat planes and hoisted celebratory beer bottles.
Nearly 400 other service members, including maintenance and support people for the squadron and others from Langley, are expected to return Saturday. More than 1,000 people from the Langley-based 1st Fighter Wing deployed during the war effort.
``We're all looking forward to taking some time off,'' said Maj. Cory ``Trap'' Bower, who hugged and kissed his girlfriend, Capt. Rochelle Brown, an Air Force nurse also stationed at Langley.
Langley pilots had been heading overseas to enforce a no-fly zone over Iraq since 1991.
``Now we've freed the country and we don't have to do that anymore,'' said Bower, of Worland, Wyo. ``It's not going to be such a drain on our resources, such a drain on our time, drain away from our family. It's going to be a wonderful opportunity for Iraqis, but it's also going to be a great opportunity for us.''
After Bower finished his beer, Brown had champagne on ice and homemade chocolate chip cookies waiting for him in her car.
Brown said that being in the service herself, she hadn't been overly concerned about Bower because she understood his mission.
``I knew they were safe,'' Brown said. ``However, you always have that slight worry, of course'' that something could go wrong.
The pilots deployed Feb. 14 to an undisclosed base in southwest Asia in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Their mission was to shoot down Iraqi aircraft -- something F-15s did in the first Persian Gulf War but didn't end up having to do this time around because no Iraqi planes took off.
``I think it's a very successful mission when the opposing air force doesn't even turn a wheel,'' said squadron commander Lt. Col. Mark ``Curly'' McKenzie, of York, Pa. ``They knew if they took off, they were going to be shot down.''
The F-15s were shot at but none suffered any battle damage and no pilots were hurt, said McKenzie, who was greeted by his wife, Kris, and daughter, Meghan, who just turned 11 two days ago.
``It's really nice'' to have him back, a shy Meghan said.
Earlier Thursday, family members gathered at a lounge on the base to make ``welcome home'' signs and banners. Then they moved outside to wait for the pilots, loudly cheering when the first group of four planes flew overhead at about 2:30 p.m.
A group of kids sat together on a concrete barricade, enthusiastically waving American flags. Five belonged to Renetta Hendricks, whose sixth child was by her side in a stroller.
Her husband, Lt. Col.-select Brent Hendricks, was not among those deployed, but Hendricks said she wanted the kids to be there to welcome home their friend, Capt. Brian Ginapp, who has been selected for promotion to major.
``We're out here supporting the effort,'' Hendricks said. ``I wanted our kids to have an appreciation. They've been following this. We've been praying for soliders, praying for pilots, praying for Maj. Ginapp.''
© 2003 HamptonRoads.com/PilotOnline.com
May 07, 2003
Coast Guard Unit Returns Home
FORT EUSTIS - Like many other American men and women in uniform, the members of U.S. Coast Guard Port Security Unit 305 had answered the call after 9/11.
Once, twice, three times the Coasties of PSU305 left Fort Eustis during the past 20 months, and last night, for the third time, they returned to the waiting arms of loved ones.
This time they had been gone since Valentine's Day, providing port security in Rota, Spain, the gateway to the Mediterranean. Before that they had deployed to New York Harbor and to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
During the most recent deployment, the unit dispatched a team to Naples, Italy to develop anti-terrorism protection guidelines and provided pier security at Souda Bay on the Greek island of Crete during a port visit there by the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
It was after midnight Tuesday when the unit's more than 100 members, at least two dozen of them from the Richmond area, arrived back at Fort Eustis. After more than three hours of waiting, Terry Perry couldn't sit still anymore. She had been in the hot, stuffy gym since 8 p.m.
"She's been shaking like this the whole time," said a man seated next to her. "She's shaking the whole bleacher."
Perry was waiting for her husband, Boatswain's Mate 1st Class Reginald N. Perry. The couple has been married more than 11 years.
Each time he comes home, it's like seeing him for the first time all over again, she explained.
"He loves what he does," she said. "But I am ready for him to be home."
RTD