386th Air Expeditionary Group [386th AEG]
9th Air Expeditionary Group [9th AEG]
The 386th Air Expeditionary Wing was subordinated to the 363rd Air Expeditionary Wing prior to its inactivation in August 2003 and the transfer of Prince Sultan AB to Saudi Arabia that same month.
Ali Al Salem Air Base is the deployed home to 1,500 people and the 386th Air Expeditionary Group [which as of 2001 was the new designation of the former 9th Air Expeditionary Group]. The Air Expeditionary Group mission at “The Rock” is to provide combat rescue, theater airlift, aeromedical evacuation, air surveillance and control, theater ballistic missile defense, as well as force protection, combat support and the ability to survive and operate for coalition air, ground and other operations.
Airmen assigned to the 386th Air Expeditionary Group work toward a common goal, surveillance. Technicians here monitor the air traffic in southern Iraq and are keenly aware of the important role they play in preparing coalition forces for any eventuality. The radar site here serves as the sole mechanism for monitoring Iraqi airspace when the AWACS aircraft are not out patrolling the skies.
This unit is literally at the forefront of Operation Southern Watch, just 39 miles from the Iraqi border. For several years following the Persian Gulf War, Al Salem was a sleepy radar site, manned by just a handful of Air Force people monitoring air traffic in the southern no-fly zone. The 74th Air Control Squadron deployed from August to November 1995 to set up and operate a radar site at Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait -- the only source of a 24-hour air picture in-theater – as part of Vigilant Sentinel. Exactly one year later, 74th ACS personnel deployed once again to SWA, this time for 120 days in support of Southern Watch and Operation Desert Strike.
After tensions in the region flared in late 1997, coalition forces started massing at the base. When the buildup renewed in November 1998, prior to Operation Desert Fox, the base doubled in size to its current population of 1,500.
The 9th Air Expeditionary Group provided air surveillance and control through that same radar site, while a fleet of C-130 Hercules provide theater airlift and, if necessary, combat search and rescue and aeromedical evacuation for Operation Southern Watch forces. The 9th AEG has brought all those functions under one umbrella. Life on The Rock is austere, even by the standards of Southwest Asia’s deployed locations. Many Air Force people at other Southern Watch bases live and work in permanent buildings. But The Rock is almost entirely a tent city, with very few actual buildings. And most “buildings” are quonset-shaped, foldable general purpose structures. The environment makes The Rock a butt of some Southern Watch humor. Many people deployed to nearby Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base — a base with amenities like an in-ground pool, paved roads and permanent dormitories — call a trip to The Rock “Jaber Appreciation Day.”
During the summer of 2001, Air Force troops from all over the world were called to participate in Operation Southern Watch’s AEF-6, then called the 386th Air Expeditionary Group. The deployment put them 39 kilometers from the border of Iraq, the closest Air Force base to that country. From the late spring to early fall, the active duty troops were joined by members of the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve. Although from different divisions of the same service, they personified the "seamless air force" concept.
Air Expeditionary Force Eight came to a hot start under the desert sun when members of the 729th Air Control Squadron from Hill AFB, Utah, arrived in Ali Al Salem Air Base 28 August 2001. There was a two-thirds changeover of base personnel last week due to AEF Eight rotations. Members of the PERSCO team met every busload, sometimes more than 100 people, arriving once or twice a day. Approximately one-third of the members assigned to the 729th ACS deployed to Kuwait assuming duties as the 386th Expeditionary Air Control Squadron for the next 90 days.
The 386th EACS began focused preparations for the deployment about six months earlier. The wartime mission is to deploy to potentially austere environments, so Ali Al Salem was not much of a departure. The 386th EACS also conducted field training in the desert environment of Western Utah to practice chemical warfare, security and other combat skills, said Xavier. The location at Hill AFB allowed weapons directors to train daily with F-16 pilots assigned to the 388th Fighter Wing. Hill manages the Utah Test and Training Range, one of the largest air-to-air and air-to-ground training ranges in the United States. The operations crews prepared with simulations and other training aids which focused solely on Operation Southern Watch.
