Wisconsin Air Guard to support gulf oil spill response efforts

Date: July 13, 2010

Four Airmen with the Wisconsin Air National Guard are expected to depart this week to support response operations in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Airmen - all noncommissioned officers - will work in an Air Force North secondary air operations center to manage the airspace in the area of the Deepwater Horizon gulf oil spill recovery effort. Three of the Airmen hail from the 128th Air Refueling Wing; Tech. Sgt. Jill Hofstetter, Reeseville is an air surveillance technician with the 128th Air Control Squadron, a position she's held the past two years. Prior to that, she served eight years in the active Air Force.

"This will be a change of pace," she explained while outprocessing at the 115th Fighter Wing. "It's been two years - I miss the active duty pace."

The Wisconsin Airmen will be among 57 National Guard members to staff the command center. Those Guard members will include pilots, navigators, air battle managers and air traffic controllers, and intelligence. The duty is expected to last up to 120 days. According to Maj. David May, deputy director of operations for the Wisconsin National Guard joint staff, additional Airmen from Wisconsin may be called upon to support this mission. While these would be the first Guard members from Wisconsin to assist in the gulf oil spill recovery operations, National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from the gulf states and others have been on active state duty to help combat the oil spill since early May.