Sentry crews finish mission, end era

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Christopher Ball
  • 363rd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM (AFPN) --  As the big white bird gracefully touched down on the windblown runway at a forward-deployed location May 28, the mission of the 363rd Air Expeditionary Wing in Southwest Asia completed a 13-year, continuous mission.

The aircraft, an E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System deployed to the 363rd Expeditionary Airborne Air Control Squadron from Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., flew the wing's last operational mission supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"The E-3s actually started in this region in the early-1980s, supporting the European Liaison Force, or ELF-1," said Lt. Col. Joe Rossacci, the 363rd EAACS commander.

The Tinker AWACS flew missions supporting ELF-1 until April 1990. In August 1990, they were again deployed to Southwest Asia for Operation Desert Shield.

"We haven't left since then," Rossacci said. "That's why this last flight is so significant. It marks the end of 13 years of sustained E-3 presence in Southwest Asia."

"This is a pretty big step," said Master Sgt. Doug Massengill, a weapons director on the last flight. "We've been here a long time."

Massengill deployed with the AWACS here four times, but says there are people in his unit that have been back here even more.

"Some of the guys in the unit were here to build the first tent city (in 1996), and they were here again for the building of the second one (in February 2003)," he said.

During that time, the E-3s have been active in the area.

"We've always been heavily involved with enforcing the no-fly zone," said 1st Lt. Sean Higgins, the senior weapons director on the mission. "The mission was pretty benign until last year, when the pace started picking up."

According to Rossacci, the E-3s from Pacific Air Forces started supporting two out of 10 air and space expeditionary forces in 1999 and 2000. Tinker aircraft still covered 80 percent of the mission.

Rossacci said their success during operations Southern Watch and Iraqi Freedom was because of the aircrews, maintainers and support people who came from three different groups at Tinker.

"They are a great group of professionals," he said. "They were combat-focused as soon as they boarded the aircraft at Tinker, knowing they were going to support combat operations. They gelled very quickly into a team, then integrated with the 363rd."

The most recent team arrived in Southwest Asia in February to support OSW and the ensuing OIF. They provided airborne theater battle management for the coalition partners. The unit flew 67 combat support sorties for OSW before the war started on March 19. The 363rd EAACS completed 277 combat sorties during OIF.

"We were in the middle of everything," Rossacci said. "We were providing battle management for fighters, bombers, combat search and rescue, aerial refuelings, recovery and time-sensitive targeting missions."

Along the way, the AWACS crews forged some great partnerships with crews from the other command and control assets, such as the Combined Air Operations Center, the RC-135 Rivet Joint, the E-8C Joint Stars, the British E-3Ds and the Navy's E-2C Hawkeyes, he said.

"The CAOC developed the plans, and we executed them," Rossacci said. "This requires close coordination especially when working time-sensitive targets; the planning must be done quickly and precisely. This massive coalition overpowered the Iraqis in just a few short weeks."

"This is an awesome sense of closure," said Senior Master Sgt. Gary Oldham, 363rd EAACS operations superintendent. "Not many people have a chance to finish what they started."

Oldham was a member of the first crew to deploy in August 1990 for Operation Desert Shield and has deployed back to Southwest Asia several times.

Now, with the final mission complete, the AWACS aircraft, crews and maintenance workers are heading back to Tinker.

"Lots of guys have over 200 days a year away from home," Oldham said. "This will be the first time we've had all the E-3s home in 13 years."

"AWACS has been a road warrior," Rossacci said. "The end of OIF is an opportunity to recover, to put some stability back in people’s lives, train and spend time with loved ones."