Airmen to work alongside Soldiers in Afghanistan

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Daniel Nathaniel
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan (AFNEWS) --  Troops arriving here are typically greeted by a welcoming committee, so when the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing commander and his staff went to meet the servicemembers bound for Afghanistan disembarking off an aircraft Feb. 4, they fully expected to see Army Soldiers file off.

But when more than 170 Airmen came down the staircase, they knew something was different.

"I was expecting Soldiers to emerge from the jet," said Col. Scott Reese. "Instead I saw Airman after Airman, battlefield Airmen. I could not help but admire them for their dedication to their nation's needs and for their flexibility. We are proud to support them as they head off to assist in bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan, this time side by side with Soldiers. I wish them the best on their journeys."

The men and women had just completed an almost 10-week long Army training course at Fort Riley, Kan. They are here waiting for their next flight, which will take them to missions across Afghanistan.

"We are basically going in to augment the Army," said Maj. Dain Kleiv, an operations officer from the 100th Maintenance Squadron at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, United Kingdom. "They are a little short-manned."

For the Airmen, Army training was something of a culture shock.

"Initially, it was like speaking another language," said Capt. David Marce of the 23rd Maintenance Squadron from Pope Air Force Base, N.C. "I think that we are all pretty fluent in Army now."

Another Airman had a similar reaction.

"Toward the end, they got used to us being around," said Senior Airman Emily Woolfolk, a medic from 6th Medical Operations Squadron at MacDill AFB, Fla. "In the beginning, it felt like being an alien from another planet."

She and the other members of the group managed to adapt and overcome the unique circumstances.

"Waking up at 3:30 in the morning and training till 7 o'clock at night, (is) just a change in lifestyle, I guess," Airman Woolfolk said.

The Airmen, with career fields ranging from vehicle and aircraft maintainers to communications and medical technicians, qualified in improvised explosives device detection, weapons training, combat lifesaver and other invaluable skills.

For many of the Airmen, firing the Army's high-caliber weapons was the highlight of their training.

"Shooting a 50 cal off a turret, that was pretty cool," Captain Marce said.

Others appreciated the convoy training, which will be required in order to get from location to location while in country.

"In supply, that's our bread and butter," said Tech. Sgt. Michael Ickes of the 56th Logistics Readiness Squadron from Luke AFB, Ariz.

Since they would often be dealing with the Afghanistan National Army, the Airmen were trained in the various cultural awareness skills including language training.

For Senior Airman Erin Jones, a 6th MDOS medic, her biggest challenge was learning Dari, a language native to Afghanistan.

"I can count to 10, say the days of the week, (and) say 'Hi, how are you?'" said Airman Jones.

As valuable as the training was for the Airmen, there was one common sentiment in the group.

"Get the job done, get home safe," Airman Jones said.

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