407th Air Expeditionary Group
The famed "Red Tails" were on the move when they relocated from a base in southern Iraq to just north of Baghdad. The 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing flag was furled before being flown to its new home at Balad Air Base, where the wing was reactivated 30 January 2004. The move was part of the Central Command Air Forces effort to consolidate forces from Tallil, Baghdad International Airport and Kirkuk AB into one location. Although the wing's time at Tallil AB was short, the accomplishments of its airmen easily measured up to the wing's legacy. The men and women of the wing had been at the tip of the expeditionary airpower spear. The 332nd had been operating out of Tallil for six months. CENTAF did not completely vacated the base in southern Iraq-the 407th Air Expeditionary Group, commanded by Col. Kevin E. Williams, remained at Tallil.
It hunts alone, flying quietly for more than 20 hours at a time, carefully scouring the earth for the most minute evidence of ground activity and discretely relaying intelligence information to analysts half a world away. On a moment's notice, the 64th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron's Predator unmanned aerial vehicle can transform itself from a forward aerial-observer to an attack-craft capable of delivering a missile with pin-point accuracy. The Predator is a complete system, not just an airframe by itself. A fully operational system consists of four aircraft with sensors, a ground-control station, a satellite link and about 55 people to support continuous 24-hour operations. To the airmen here who fly them, the system is more than just an expensive video game. Inside the Predator's brain, there is room for a crew of two. The ground-control station, a box-like container which resembles the end section of a tractor-trailer, controls almost every move of the 27-foot craft.
High temperatures, lots of sun and frequent dust storms are in the Tallil forecast for the next three months. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out, but when officials here need more precise weather advice, they turn to the Airmen of the 407th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron Weather Flight for up-to-the-hour details. Manned around the clock, they provide 24-hour meteorological services to U.S. Army and coalition aircrews and any transient air-crews who pass through. They also provide temperature, weather and cloud forecasts, and they send out warnings and advisories for high winds, lightning and severe weather.
The "medical torch" passed from the Army to the Air Force at Tallil Air Base in southern Iraq with the grand opening of the Expeditionary Medical Support Hospital. After nearly six years of development, EMEDS is the latest in expeditionary medical care. The Army's 86th Combat Support Hospital is scheduled to close because the base no longer needs its 80-bed capacity, according to base officials. The replacement EMEDS unit is a 10-bed hospital.
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