Idaho's A-10s hold Green Flag record

by Master Sgt. Becky Vanshur
124th Fighter Wing

5/3/2014 - BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. -  -- More than 120 Airmen from the Idaho Air National Guard and nine Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II "Warthog" aircraft participated during Exercise Green Flag East here March 9-26.

Pilots from the 190th Fighter Squadron and their supporting team of 124th Fighter Wing Airmen "unleashed the hogs" from the operating base during the nearly three-week air combat exercise where they decisively turned a major ground maneuver exercise at nearby Fort Polk in favor of the "Blue Forces."

Green Flag East Commander, Lt. Col. Brett Waring, praised the 124th FW and the 190th FS Airmen on March 25 as the exercise wound down. He spoke to airmen about the success of the daily sorties and missions.

"With units losing forces, all the while, having downed aviators out there in the mix of this fluid dynamic battlefield, it's pretty amazing with the way you guys (190th FS) accomplished this, with the close air support missions," Waring said. "They unleashed the hogs and we had the most kinetic strike operations, in the last three years of Green Flag, just in those last few days."

He painted a vivid picture about the scenarios executed in the Army range training grounds near Fort Polk and the Toledo Bend Army recreational lake.

"The army, for those of you that didn't hear, over there opposite the operations side, the army got it handed to them," Waring said. "No other way to put it. They had to regenerate forces twice, because the opposition force was beating them that badly. Going into the last few days of the exercise, they finally started to get it,"

"We unleashed the hogs and you all performed brilliantly from that," Waring continued. "The A-10s, particularly the 190th Fighter Squadron, now hold the Green Flag record for the most air-to-air kills in a Green Flag East rotation."

"One of our wing goals for Green Flag was to foster camaraderie amongst the airmen in different groups, area and shops," said Maj. Jennifer Chase, Idaho's deployed detachment commander. "By supporting communication across all jobs and experience levels, each airman gained lasting knowledge of new fields and empathy for individual experiences. This experience broadened career prospects, strengthened friendships and ultimately benefitted every airman from the newest airmen, who has never deployed, to the Wing leadership."

Chase said Green Flag East was a beneficial exercise for everyone involved.

"The tireless efforts of the 124th Fighter Wing allowed 133 personnel and nine A-10s to deploy only 55 days after being assigned to this exercise," Chase said. "The quality of this exercise is directly attributed to the professionalism of the men and women in our wing ... and we supported every sortie with absolutely zero maintenance or operation cancelations."

Although the A-10 "Warthog" is known for close air support and air-to-ground support, Green Flag Commander Lt. Col. Brett Waring confirmed that the 190th FS and Idaho's A-10s now hold the record at Green Flag East for most air-to-air kills.