Courtesy Photo | After spending the night at Ali Base, Iraq, because of a weather diversion Lt. Col....... read more read more
By Tech. Sgt. Paul Dean
407th Air Expeditionary Group public affairs
10/18/2005
ALI BASE, Iraq --The skies above and around Balad Air Base, Iraq, were thick with dust and sand as four F-16 pilots completed another mission in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and headed to their deployed home with the 332nd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron Oct. 17. The sortie had started early in the morning, but it was well past lunch as they traveled around their holding pattern again.
The four Fighting Falcons completed a mid-air refueling and waited for the sandstorm to pass. Forecasters eventually decided the storm wouldn't break until much later in the evening, so the planes were directed south to Ali Base.
It was just another one of those days that proves there's no such thing as routine when you're an F-16 pilot supporting ground forces in Iraq, said Maj. Darren Censullo, an Air Force Reservist deployed from the 482d Fighter Wing, Homestead Air Reserve Base, Fla., home of the Makos. It was just another long day in a small cockpit.
But the need to adapt and be flexible, to expect the unexpected, has new meaning to the F-16 pilots after being at Balad Air Base for several weeks now: they may very well have met the people who's lives they are saving each day.
Lt. Col. Jose Monteagudo, commander of the combat air mission, also a deployed Mako, will take home more than his training was able to offer. "I eat dinner with some of these guys. We have Army guys all over [Balad Air Base] so I get to know some of them and talk to them about their jobs," he said. "There's no simulator that can teach you the feeling you get when you hear the guy on the ground yell into the radio "We need help NOW! Take care of it.""
Colonel Monteagudo said helping the ground forces is the most gratifying part of what's been an exciting deployment. "Every day something's happening, every day we're up here providing cover for [ground forces]. I really respect the job they're doing down there and am glad we can help anyway we can."
Seeing ground combat from his vantage point in the air is an experience the colonel said he'll never forget. Air Force F-16s have spent a lot of time supporting ground operations, including watching areas where insurgents have attempted to ambush coalition forces.
By sun up Tuesday, remnants of the sandstorm were now at Ali Base. But it was safe enough to fly and all the instructions they needed were in hand. The four F-16s took off to help coalition ground forces win a war; the pilots wondered what the unexpected event for the day would be.
| Date Taken: | 10.22.2005 |
| Date Posted: | 10.22.2005 17:30 |
| Story ID: | 3451 |
| Location: | ALI BASE, IQ |
| Web Views: | 97 |
| Downloads: | 15 |
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