Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Gen. Charles F. Wald, U.S. European Command deputy commander, officiated the ceremony -- an irony since he was the first U.S. officer on the ground here to support Operation Provide Comfort in 1991.

The general summed up ONW as a successful coalition operation that saved lives and forged long-term bonds between the coalition partners in his remarks to approximately 240 guests and 20 international media representatives.

He attributed the unwavering support of the United States' ONW coalition partners, Turkey and England, as the foundation of cooperation that formed even stronger ties between the three nations.

Gen. Robin E. Scott, the last U.S. ONW co-commander, attributed the operation's success to the support of the U.S.'s coalition partners as well as the 39th Air and Space Expeditionary Wing, which did the "yeoman's work supporting ONW."

The 39th ASEW's guidon was also cased during the ceremony. The wing was created to organize deployed forces supporting ONW into a familiar structure while providing the backbone of support to the entire operation. With the successful end of ONW, the 39th ASEW's mission also ended.

Participating in the ceremony were Gen. Wald, Gen. Chumhur Asparuk, Turkish Air Forces Command commander, Gen. Scott and Turkish Brig. Gen. Levent Turkmen, CTF ONW co-commanders, and Group Capt. Michael Jenkins, British Forces Resinate North commander.

ONW began Jan. 1, 1997, and succeeded another coalition effort, Operation Provide Comfort, which began in April 1991 and delivered more than 12,400 tons of food, supplies, medical aid and fuel to more than a million Kurdish refugees along the Turkish and Iraqi border.

For more than a decade, more than 100,000 U.S., United Kingdom, Turkish and French airmen rotated through Incirlik AB to support the operations.

The United States, England and Turkey contributed more than 1,400 troops and approximately 50 fighter, tanker, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft to ONW at any given time.

The U.S. contribution was a total force effort, including soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen from active duty, National Guard and reserve units serving 45-to-90-day tours. 

Despite facing Iraqi fire on nearly every mission, coalition forces never lost an aircraft over Iraq.

In recognition of these and other achievements, Headquarters CTF ONW was awarded the Joint Meritorious Unit Award six consecutive years. The unit received its seventh during the ceremony.

The last ONW combat patrol was flown March 17, prior to the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom, but the operation's legacy lives on.

Coalition forces gained invaluable experience planning and flying composite force missions, generating combat ready aircraft and controlling their missions from the Combined Air Operations Center. Ultimately, the experience gained and lessons learned from ONW laid the foundation for success in future military operations.

"Through the no-fly zones, we trained an entire generation of expeditionary warriors, providing them with the valuable combat skills that have, in no small measure, made Operation Iraqi Freedom so successful," said Scott. "Twelve years of combat flying in Iraq provided the expeditionary skills and experience that make our forces unparalleled in the world today."

-- USAFENS --