The News Journal February 23, 2013

Del. Air Guardsmen deploying

By William H. McMichael

The state National Guard’s busy year continues this week, when about 100 airmen from New Castle’s 166th Airlift Wing deploy for four months to an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia in support of the war in Afghanistan.

The airmen will leave the Air National Guard Base at New Castle Airport on Tuesday and Thursday in two groups of 50, carried by two C-130H cargo aircraft, according to Tech. Sgt. Benjamin Matwey, the unit’s spokesman. They’ll be joined on the deployment by a Texas Air National Guard unit.

The deployment comes on the boot heels of the departure of Delaware City’s 153rd Military Police Company, whose 127 troops left the U.S. for Afghanistan two weeks ago to begin a nine-month stay in Kandahar Province. Also currently deployed are two dozen New Castle-based airmen with the 142nd Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. By midsummer, nearly 500 state Guardsmen will be deployed, officials say.

The airmen leaving this week will be assigned to the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, which falls under U.S. Air Forces Central Command and operates out of a location the Air Force considers too sensitive to publicize.

The wing, according to its website, is the “primary tactical airlift hub for resupply missions and provides combat service support to land component forces throughout the Persian Gulf region.”

The airmen are drawn from two units within the wing. The C-130 crewmen and other mission specialists are assigned to the 166th Operations Group. Airmen who maintain and repair the aircraft are with the 166th Maintenance Group. Most hail from Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey, with a few from other states, Matwey said.

Pre-deployment training is continuing up to the last minute.

“Our crews are conducting normal pilot and aircraft commander certification training, and normal C-130 airdrop and assault landing training in preparation for their mission,” said 166th Operations Group commander Lt. Col. Rob Culcasi. “A lot of the training is reestablishing muscle memory for air crews. We’re sending experienced aircrews and a significant number of younger aircrew.”

The wing’s commander said he’s confident the airmen are ready to go. “Our operations and maintenance personnel have done an exceptional job in refining their skills and preparing their equipment and aircraft for this deployment,” said Col. Mike Feeley. “They are well-trained, equipped and ready to accomplish our nation’s tasking. Their dedication and the sacrifices of their families are greatly appreciated.”

The missions of C-130 crews on such assignments have not typically been ranging far from the 386th’s home base, Matwey said. But, he added, “that could change.” Matwey said the deployed airmen could find themselves flying throughout U.S. Central Command’s 20-nation area of operations, which stretches from Egypt to Kazakhstan.

“Because the C-130 airframe can go just about anywhere, and our crews train for many environmental conditions, it is nothing new if missions get tweaked,” Matwey said. “It has happened before, more than once.”

According to GlobalSecurity.org, a leading private source for defense information, the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing is based at Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait – known as “The Rock” – where the unit, then labeled as an air expeditionary group, was assigned in 2002, prior to the start of the Iraq War.