Senator visits Iraq, spends week on active duty

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Ian Carrier
  • 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFNEWS) --  A South Carolina senator toured Iraq for two days, and then put on an Air Force desert camouflage uniform for a week and worked as a judge advocate for the Multinational Forces, Iraq.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, also a Reserve colonel, visited the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing April 9 after getting a firsthand look at the 586th and 886th Expeditionary Security Forces in action at Camp Bucca with Sen. John McCain April 1 and 2.

"The security detail at Camp Bucca is the most joint operation I've seen," Senator Graham said. "The challenges the Airmen at Camp Bucca are dealing with are challenges they haven't seen before, and they are dealing with it in a way that makes the military proud. The Air Force security forces there are indispensable."

Senator Graham said he believes the new strategy in Iraq is working. Airmen at Camp Bucca are working to relieve the pressure in the area and improve the current program in place, which helps the Iraqis to make legal decisions in a more secure environment.

The military force in the area of responsibility is nimble and multitalented, the senator said. They are very adaptable and creative, and do things that haven't been done before.

Senator Graham also visited the 386th Expeditionary Medical Group and the Contingency Air Medical Staging Facility, where servicemembers wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan are treated for injuries. If the injuries are more severe, patients are then airlifted to a military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, or flown to the United States. The senator lauded the medical group members for helping to contribute to the outstanding survival rate in the AOR.

Senator Graham, a South Carolina native, graduated from the University of South Carolina at Columbia with a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1977, and from its school of law in1981. He entered the Air Force in 1982 and served on active duty until 1988. Since then, he has served in the South Carolina Air National Guard. During the Persian Gulf War, he served as a judge advocate at McIntire Air National Guard Station in Eastover, South Carolina. He was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1992 and to the Senate in 2002.

"I'm having the time of my life," Senator Graham said. "I wouldn't trade it for the world."

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