Released: May 2, 2003
Jamming squadron accomplishes mission, heads home
By 2nd Lt. Gerardo Gonzalez
64th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM (ACCNS) -- After more than 220 sorties, almost 2000
combat flying hours and more than 6000 jammed enemy signals in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom, the airmen of the 41st Expeditionary Electronic
Combat Squadron can call it a day.
As part of the 64th Air Expeditionary Wing deployed to Southwest Asia, the
41st EECS played a key role during the war by disrupting Iraqi military
communications in support of many missions, including the rescue of Army Pfc.
Jessica Lynch.
The 41st flies the EC-130H Compass Call aircraft and its mission is to jam
unfriendly communications making it difficult for an enemy to command and
control its forces, said Lt. Col. Don Bacon, the 41st EECS commander.
"We were involved with almost every major operation that went on in Iraq," the
commander said. "It was very demanding."
Flying over Iraq took the squadron's maintenance crews to new levels.
"I think the guys found new limits in themselves because they got pushed
beyond the exhaustion point," said Master Sgt. Daniel Johnson, the night-shift
production supervisor. "We worked 45 or 50 12-hour shifts in a row with no
days off and everybody held up really well."
The airmen held up, but maintaining some of the equipment was a challenge.
"It just seemed odd that we were changing so many parts," said Senior Airman
David Pazak, an aircraft propulsion craftsman.
"I found a lot of strange things the equipment can do that it's not supposed
to do," said Senior Airman Michael Hommel, an aerospace ground equipment
journeyman.
"With high usage, things start to break down," said Staff Sgt. Richard
Majarian, an AGE craftsman.
"We started thinking about it and looking at the hours we were generating,"
Airman Pazak said. "We did six months of maintenance in a four-week period."
"We flew 4 times as much as we did back home," said Senior Airman Jason
Yearicks, an EC-130H crew chief.
During the war, the unit worked 24-hour operations launching an aircraft
approximately every 8 hours, said Maj. Steven Weld, the maintenance flight
commander.
"It just didn't seem to end," he said. "Constantly, maintenance had to be
done."
"We always had a plane to give them," said Senior Master Sgt. Duncan Tanaka,
the maintenance superintendent.
Maintainers turned the planes over to the aircrews who then ventured into the
not so friendly skies.
"We typically fly in the friendly side jamming deep into the enemy side,"
Colonel Bacon said. "Here we flew way forward, and that was a little bit
stressful.
"We were seeing unguided missiles flying by . and that's not something we're
used to."
"It keeps you on the edge of your seat knowing that there were people down
there who would love to shoot you down," said Lt. Col. Brad Byrd, the squadron
operations officer who flew during the conflict in what were typically 13-hour
missions.
To add to the challenges, the unit also dealt with last minute mission
changes, such as one received April 1 diverting them to the Nasiriya area of
Iraq from their original mission.
"We weren't told what the mission was," Colonel Bacon said. "Just jam any
Iraqi stuff in that region.
"The next day we heard that Private Lynch was rescued in Nasiriya."
A senior official at the combined air operations center later contacted the
41st and told them 'you guys did a great job, you had a direct impact on the
mission,' Colonel Bacon said.
After a nearly 6-month deployment that started in November, members of the
41st EECS are proud of their accomplishments and are happy to be returning
home to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., they said.
"I wanted to (deploy) really bad," Airman Hommel said. "I wanted to do my job
for real."
"I'm proud," Sergeant Yearicks said. "My family tells me they're proud. Makes
it all worth it."
"Now that we've stopped flying, we're more than ready to go home," Major Weld
said.
"We did our job," Colonel Bacon said. "We took down a terrible dictator.
"We were part of something that was good. Hopefully it'll make a huge impact
on the Iraqi people and the whole area."
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