Americans officially end era at PSAB

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PRINCE SULTAN AIR BASE, Saudi Arabia (AFPN) --  U.S. officials transferred control of portions of Prince Sultan Air Base to Saudi officials at a ceremony Aug. 26. The ceremony also marked the inactivation of the 363rd Air Expeditionary Wing.

"We came here under difficult circumstances following the Khobar Towers bombing (at Dhahran Air Base),” said Col. James Moschgat, the wing’s commander. “The mission thrived and prospered here, and I believe our legacy will live on. We are leaving after seven years of friendship and cooperation. It's bittersweet, but it's time to go."

Saudi government officials asked U.S. servicemembers to deploy to Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf War. The troops remained to enforce U.N. Security Council Resolution 688 -- the no-fly zone south of the 33rd parallel over Iraq -- until Operation Iraqi Freedom started March 19. The base here became the center of the U.S. presence in the country in 1997 after the Khobar Towers bombing that killed 19 airmen and injured 400 others.

Aircraft here monitored the southern no-fly zone in Iraq. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Combined Air Operations Center and a limited air-refueling mission operated here.

The base was home to about 60,000 coalition forces during the past seven years. At the height of OIF, there were more than 5,000 troops and about 200 coalition aircraft based here.

The decision to withdraw the troops was made by U.S. and Saudi officials during a meeting between Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Saudi defense minister in Riyadh on April 29.

"Today ends more than a decade of military operations in this strategic Middle East nation," said Maj. Gen. Robert J. Elder Jr., the 9th Aerospace Expeditionary Task Force vice commander. “The end of (major combat operation in Iraq) and Saddam Hussein's government means the American military mission here is over.”

This ceremony signals a change to the U.S. and Saudi military operational relationship as the countries’ militaries continue tactical training and conduct exercises together, he said.

"Closing U.S.-controlled areas of Prince Sultan Air Base ... is a time for reflection,” Elder said. “But, this won't be the end of coming to Saudi Arabia. We've been working with our friends from Prince Sultan for seven years; we're beginning a new relationship with the royal Saudi air force."

In July, Moschgat returned Coalition Complex, the housing center for coalition forces since 1999, to Saudi officials.

The last Americans will complete the U.S. pullout in early September.