484th AEW brings airpower to battlefield

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Charles Ramey
  • 444th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM (AFPN) --  It is the largest and most diverse Air Force unit supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom, yet few people know it exists, according to 484th Air Expeditionary Wing officials.

Behind the scenes, the 484 AEW works quietly, providing combat enabling, contingency response, terminal attack and combat weather support to the coalition air forces and every special forces and Army maneuver unit on the battlefield.

"There is not one thing in this war that our wing has not touched," said Col. Michael Longoria, 484th AEW commander. "We're in every country where forces are based in support of this operation. When coalition forces entered Iraq from the north, south and west, airmen from our wing were on the ground and involved in every step of the operation."

With eight groups dispersed throughout the area of operations, the colonel said, the wing's more than 3,400 people have supported more than 12,000 warriors.

"Never before in the history of the Air Force have we put a wing together to do these missions," he said. "It's a unique structure and huge by all measures."

Operation Iraqi Freedom has seen the largest special operations force employment since the Vietnam War. The wing's 444th and 447th AEGs enable this effort, Longoria said.

"The special operations heroes of this war could not have done what they've accomplished without being combat-enabled by our people before they went into Iraq," he said. "We've shown that airman can combat-enable all kinds of weapons systems and we can do it in any environment, anywhere in the world.

"There are a lot of warm bases and locations throughout the theater with built up infrastructure," he said. "Our wing doesn't have those fixed facilities. But, we proved that we can put the expedition part in expeditionary by rapidly deploying to the tip of the spear and set up fully operational bases in the middle of nowhere that meet or, in many cases, exceed what was already in theater."

One of the wing's greatest expeditionary feats was delivered by the 86th Contingency Response Group on Iraq's northern front March 27, Longoria said.

"This group is based at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and participated in one of the largest airborne assaults since D-Day," he said. "Twenty airmen from this wing parachuted into northern Iraq with more than 1,000 soldiers of the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade. Their skills helped prepare and open an airfield for C-17 Globemaster IIIs that are now delivering more than 1 million pounds of people and cargo every night."

As numerous Army units charged toward and seized areas in and around Baghdad, close air support called in by members of the 484th AEW cleared the way. Approximately 500 forward air controllers are provided by the wing's 3rd, 4th and 18th Expeditionary Air Support Operations Groups and add to a ground unit's fighting capabilities.

"When it comes to terminal attack and combat weather, there is no Army element from the corps level down to battalion level on the battlefield that doesn't have embedded Air Force forward air controllers and combat weathermen from our wing with them," Longoria said. "Our airmen are on the tip of the sword.

"As the first U.S. forces entered the streets of Baghdad, I got a phone call from two very proud senior airmen and their squadron commander who are embedded with the 3rd Infantry Division, letting me know where they were," Longoria said. "Just 36 hours before, they were at the new 'Baghdad International Airport.' They and their counterparts will remain on station and continue to put bombs and bullets on target until the job is done."

"I think wars are won by great strategies, but I think that we've proven that even with great strategies you need great people to execute at the operational and tactical level," Longoria said. "Throughout my 22 years in the service and six combat tours, I've never seen a greater group of young airmen that have executed the mission as well as the men and women of the 484th Air Expeditionary Wing."