Airmen teach C-130 ops to Iraqis, learn about sacrifice

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Melissa Phillips
  • 407th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
ALI BASE, Iraq (AFPN) --  When a crew of instructors deployed here to teach Iraqi airmen the finer points of flying and maintaining C-130 Hercules, they knew they had a monumental task in front of them. But what they found was something unexpected.

Slowly over several months, Iraqi and U.S. Airmen have developed lifelong friendships with the very men they previously called enemies.

“Our instructors are more than just a friend,” said Iraqi air force Capt. S, a maintenance officer with Squadron 23. “We are like brothers.” Names of Iraqi airmen were withheld as a means of force protection.

The squadron is the first medium airlift postwar Iraqi air force flying squadron and is now more than 100 airmen strong. More than 30 advisory support team instructors, all assigned here to either the 777th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron or 777th Airlift Squadron, teach their Iraqi counterparts in aircrew and logistics specialties.

The team also maintains a few specialized jobs such as maintenance operations center controller, sortie support section, production supervisor, maintenance officer and superintendent.

Master Sgt. Patrick Shaw, an aerial port instructor deployed from McChord Air Force Base, Wash., said coming here has revealed a new world to him. He teaches students who previously subscribed to a different philosophy on how to get the aerial port mission done.

Before learning the U.S. aerial port processes, the Iraqi students would go straight from the aircraft to the battlefield, Sergeant Shaw said.

Under the old regime, Iraqi airmen did not have the same level of accountability over cargo and people. So it has been an interesting process of getting them to understand why the paperwork is so important and will help reduce duplication of effort in the long run, Sergeant Shaw said.

Most of the Iraqi airmen have been doing the same job on other transport aircraft for years, some for longer than a few of the U.S. Airmen have been alive. Although the Iraqi air force has a solid foundation in transport flight processes, it still has not been an easy process to access their past experience.

Master Sgt. Tommy Lee, a flight engineer instructor, and his other teammates have had to find new and inventive ways to bridge the language gap.

“One time I had to explain in six different ways why the instrument panel wasn’t lit up,” said Sergeant Lee, who is deployed from Little Rock AFB, Ark. “One of the students had skipped a step on the checklist, and it took me 30 minutes to explain what it would have taken less than 30 seconds to explain to a U.S. Airman, because of the communication barrier.”

In the beginning, there were no interpreters. Now the unit has three.

Despite the obstacles, in less than six months the first Iraqi air force pilot and co-pilot flew alone without a U.S. pilot in a flight seat position, and the first navigator was fully qualified. Plus, more than 65 Iraqi air force mechanics have received their equivalent of a 5-level certification and are now working toward their 7-level equivalent.

“These are the best people I’ve ever worked with,” said Tech. Sgt Aaron Havens, an electrics and environmental instructor deployed from Pope AFB, N.C. “They pay attention, they like to keep everything clean (while performing maintenance), and with them it’s all about the airplane.”

The students are continually struggling to understand a new language and different ways of doing things while simultaneously fighting for their lives and worrying about keeping their identities secret to protect themselves and their families from harm by insurgents.

But for them, they say it is worth it because they no longer fight for just one man -- they fight for their country.

For Captain S, who was also an officer during the previous regime, that shift in mentality is priceless.

“I recently went to visit an Iraqi solider in the hospital,” he said. “He had lost both his legs, and we went there to comfort him. When we were leaving, we told him, ‘May God be with you.’ He called back out to me, ‘For Iraq, I would give up my whole life, not just my legs.’”

Most of the Iraqi airmen have businesses or farms and are relatively well off already. But when the opportunity came to return to the service they love, regardless of the risk, they jumped on it.

Since Jan. 14, when the squadron was officially formed, the airmen have been sneaking in the shadows and many have hid their allegiance to the Iraqi air force to family and friends, some even to their own wives.

Captain S’s wife, concerned for her family’s safety, continually pleads with him to quit and has also asked his father to pressure him. But the captain, whose own son does not know he is currently serving, said, “If I don’t do it, who will?

“I dream that Iraq will someday be safe,” he said. “We will be at peace, and at peace with our neighbors. I wish for a civilized country and a better place for my children.

“I try to teach my son to respect the armed forces when he sees them in the streets,” he said. “One day when he grows up, I want him to know his father sacrificed during the worst period in his country in order for his children to have a better Iraq.”

Flight Engineer J also fights for the same dream and a chance to build a new Iraqi air force.

He has been a flight engineer for 10 years, but until now has never felt able to express concerns to his superiors because of his lower rank.

“I’m impressed at how Americans treat each other as far as rank,” Engineer J said. “They treat each other equally. During the previous regime there was a huge difference between a flight engineer and pilot. Now, we work together.

“Because of the treatment we’ve experienced from our instructors firsthand and the friendship they’ve shown us, it’s made me change my views on all Americans,” he said. “We understand the true (meaning of) American kindness.”

Both Iraqi airmen said one of the proudest moments in their lives was during the ceremony when the Department of Defense gave three C-130 Hercules to the squadron, and the Iraqi air force placed the Iraqi flag on their own planes. The second was when they saw one of their planes take off and fly for the first time.

“We are so proud to be the first unit to fly Iraqi air force planes,” Engineer J said.

Their pride is contagious.

“This is the pinnacle of my career and the most rewarding job I’ve ever had in my Air Force career,” Sergeant Shaw said. “This job has given me a lot of insight to working outside your comfort zone. You really get a front seat to how other peoples’ actions (affect) organizations across the board.

“My students will continue to teach new students, and what we started here will allow them to move their forces and security folks to where they’re threatened to secure their nation,” he said.

From the start, Sergeant Shaw realized the historical significance of his job, but said he did not realize how strongly he would feel for the plight of his students.

“You get very close to these guys and you want to see them succeed,” Sergeant Shaw said.

He and the other instructors know their students’ family members by name and take an interest in their daily lives and vice versa. Some of the instructors and students have the other country’s flag in their homes and can recognize the sound of the other servicemember’s spouse on the other end of the phone.

“We get incredibly close to each other and our families get involved,” Sergeant Haven said.

The relationship between the two country’s airmen has not been all perpetual seriousness.

“I remember one of the first times our class shared a laugh together was during a training session where I was teaching them hand signals so they can marshal cargo properly,” Sergeant Shaw said. “Well, one of my students was trying to do more than one signal at a time, and he looked like an orchestra conductor.

“That became his nickname for a while,” he said. “Everyone had a good laugh and that’s when I realized we really weren’t so different.

“Sometimes it’s overwhelming to know how much of an (effect) you’re making when you’re in the middle of it,” Sergeant Shaw said. “But then you realize you’re helping specific people -- specific people I know by name -- and we are helping them to succeed.

“I don’t know what history will write, but if this is the smallest footnote or biggest chapter in history, I’ll never forget it,” he said.