• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Soldiers take control of Baghdad skies

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, April 16, 2003) -- Soldiers of the 58th Aviation Regiment have been running the control tower at Baghdad International Airport since shortly after it was captured two weeks ago.

The soldiers of D Company, 1-58 are helping pilots navigate increasingly crowded skies.

"We're directly responsible for all aircraft entering and exiting the airspace around Baghdad International Airport," said Staff Sgt. Andrew Lecuyer, air traffic control tower chief, D Co., 1-58 Aviation. "We make sure everything is de-conflicted."

The first group of soldiers arrived with a convoy of vehicles from the 4th Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division at about 8 p.m. April 5, said the Fayetteville, N.C., native.

The following morning, the air traffic controllers linked up with a small tactical team that had moved to the airport with 1st Brigade and began the task of moving their gear up 13 flights of stairs to the tower's control center 140 feet from the ground.

The tower, like all the other buildings at Baghdad International, is without power, Lecuyer said. All of the gear had to be carried up and remoted from generators on the ground.

"None of the work has really been that hard," said Spc. Montez Brown, air traffic control specialist. "But lugging all that stuff up the steps was rough. We had to carry up all the stuff we needed to work as well as our personal stuff. We only had daylight hours, because once it got dark we had to observe light discipline."

Carrying things up the stairs is an ongoing task for the soldiers, said Spc. Sean Bailey, air traffic control specialist.

"Now that the operation is set up, we have to make sure this facility stays running," said the Nobleboro, Maine, native. "It's a lot of schlepping things up the stairs. We've got to carry all of our food and water up all those stairs. Up here, small problems can turn big really quick."

While five soldiers work each eight-hour shift in the control center, the other 11 soldiers sleep one floor below, Lecuyer said.

The soldiers consider their work important, Lecuyer said. They are responsible for any traffic, ground or air that needs to move around the runway.

"We do everything from moving them on the ground to controlling them in the air," said Brown, a Jacksonville, Fla., native. "If there's someone out there, we let them know. We're like a second pair of eyes for them, making sure they're safe when they're out flying."

Brown said he was "excited" to get to the tower. Most soldiers in the company considered it their final destination in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"It seemed like the war was a lot of waiting to get here," he said. "Now everybody's pretty happy. Some people have never been up in a real tower, so to say we controlled it, that's a pretty awesome operation."

Lecuyer said the unit may have reached its final destination, but the work will be ongoing as more and more aircraft move to the airport, which will eventually be handed back to civilian authorities. Until then, it's his soldiers' job to watch coalition aviators' backs.

"Typically, a pilot can't see (behind him) when he's flying," Lecuyer said. "We're here to do that for him."

(Editor's note: Spc. Jacob Boyer writes for the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) public affairs section.)