One team, one fight!

"The mission is and 18-year-old with a rifle. All else is support" is a sentiment expressed by wing leadership at the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing which is home to 1,900 personnel supporting one of the most diverse combat wings in the Air Force. The wing's mission is to provide high-altitude all-weather intelligence, surveillance, reconaissance, airborne command and control and air refueling for Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa. To accomplish its mission the wing is equipped with four diverse weapons systems which are shown as silhouttes. From top to bottom, The RQ-4 Global Hawk, E-3 Sentry (AWACS), U-2 Dragon Lady and the KC-10 Extender. They are a unique combination of aircraft which act as the "eyes and ears" serving as guardians of the sky for troops on the ground and providing greater range and endurance for coalition aircraft over the battlefield. (Photo illustration by Capt Cathleen Snow)

U2 milestone

A U2 Dragon Lady, piloted by Capt. James Bartran, is parked on the flight line after the captain completed his 1000th flying hour and 69th combat sortie in the U2 at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia July 17. This is Captain Bartran’s seventh deployment piloting the Dragon Lady and the fifth flying with the 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. April Wickes)

Global Hawk operations in Southwest Asia

A maintenance technician from the 380th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron's Global Hawk aircraft maintenance unit works on a Global Hawk during operations on the flightline April 15, 2010, at a non-disclosed base in Southwest Asia. The RQ-4 is assigned to the 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron and deployed from Beale Air Force Base, Calif. The RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft system with an integrated sensor suite that provides intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or ISR, capability worldwide. Global Hawk's mission is to provide a broad spectrum of ISR collection capability to support joint combatant forces in worldwide peacetime, contingency and wartime operations. The 380th EAMXS and 99th ERS, as part of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, supports operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom and the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol/Released)

Air expeditionary wing in Southwest Asia takes full circle journey to war

Published Aug. 31, 2010
By Staff Sgt. Jeremy Larlee
380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- The deafening roar of the U.S. Army Patriot missiles leaving their launchers left a ringing in his ears and drove home to the young captain that he was indeed at war.

Huddled in a bunker with his fellow KC-135 aircrew, the usual joking and bantering was replaced with silence. The crew was fatigued following a refueling mission and was assisting the maintainers in refueling the KC-135 Stratotanker to get it back into the air when the alarm red came in from the command post, sending them to cover. There had been alarm reds in the previous nights, but nothing had materialized until now.

This night in January 1991 was different though. Roughly a week into the Desert Storm air campaign, Iraq switched its focus and aimed the much-feared Scud missiles toward the captain's location in Saudi Arabia.

The Patriot missiles did their job and took out the Scud missiles. The fireworks display rained flaming shards of Scud and Patriot missile across the ramp and flight line like twisted metal confetti.

The events of that night left an indelible impression on the captain. He had arrived in theater in October 1990 and had just pinned on captain in May of that same year. It was his first taste of an expeditionary environment, but it would not be his last.

Over the next 20 years he traded in the captain bars for a general's star and instead of flying for the 380th Air Refueling Wing, Brig. Gen. Mike Minahan has traveled full circle and now commands the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing.

The 380th has undergone changes as well. It is no longer located at Plattsburgh Air Force Base, N.Y, which closed down in 1995, but is now crucial to the war effort at this undisclosed location in Southwest Asia.

The wing has a diverse mission and is comprised of five groups and 18 squadrons, responsible for air refueling, surveillance and reconnaissance, air battle management, and airlift support for overseas contingency operations in the Area of Responsibility.

With the 20th anniversary of Desert Shield this month, it's time to reflect and see how much the Air Force has changed in just two decades.

Multiple deployments to combat zones are common now, and troops, families and friends are fully familiar with the expeditionary cycle.

This higher operations tempo is also being executed with less, as the Air Force has drawn down to close to half of the personnel from 1990.

"Our Air Force is much smaller and leaner, but we are also much more lethal, said General Minahan. "It is a testament to how professional and technically competent our Airmen are. Back then we were undeniably the most powerful Air Force in the world and today it is even more true."

The scope of what the 380th AEW does now is different than in Desert Shield, but by no means is it less important.

The wing conducts combat operations instructed by the president in direct support of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom and the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa. To accomplish its mission the wing is equipped with four diverse weapons systems: the U-2 Dragon Lady, E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft, RQ-4 Global Hawk and the KC-10 Extender. They are a unique combination of aircraft which act as the "eyes and ears," serve as guardians of the sky and provide greater range and endurance for coalition aircraft over the battlefield.

Asked if he could reach back through time to give that captain in the bunker some advice, General Minahan said he would keep it simple.

"I would give myself the same advice that has been reinforced throughout my career," he said. "Always work hard and always do your best. Go that extra mile and set your sights on bigger and better things. Be the best at whatever job you have."