40th AS returns home after successful deployment

by Senior Airman Kia Atkins
7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs

9/15/2014 - DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Over 70 personnel and several C-130Js from the 40th Airlift Squadron, assigned to the 317th Airlift group here, returned to home station Sept. 15, 2014, following a deployment to the Central Command Area of Responsibility.

Operating as the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, the 40th AS provided tactical airlift and airdrop capabilities in direct support of coalition ground forces engaged in combat operations throughout Afghanistan.

As part of the 774th EAS, 40th AS Airmen executed the first humanitarian relief operations to aid more than 120,000 Badakhshan mudslide victims in northeast Afghanistan. They flew the first aircraft into the area, providing critical supplies of food, water, tents, blankets and a forklift to support follow-on relief operations. In total, they delivered 25,000 pounds of supplies..
"It was very rewarding to be a part of the humanitarian relief efforts in Badakhshan," said Lt. Col. Joseph Miller, 40th AS commander. "These Afghans needed our help and support, and we responded to the call. We were humbled to have the ability to relieve them."

While deployed, the 40th AS flew over 4,500 combat sorties and 925 combat missions. Aircrews performed more than 4,000 combat flight hours, and evacuated approximately 500 aeromedical patients, saving countless lives. Furthermore, the 40th AS airdropped 25,000 tons of cargo and delivered 28 tons of cargo to austere drop zones.

The 40th AS, known for developing innovative tactics at home at abroad, developed benchmark instrument let-down and arrival procedures to facilitate all-weather operations, which were approved and distributed for the entire area of responsibility to use. The 40th AS was also the first unit ever to employ the Wireless Gate Release System, a new technology, to multiple drop zones at once.

Upon arriving at home station, Miller remarked on the accomplishments of the 40th AS throughout the unit's six-month long deployment.

"The men and women of the 40th AS are awesome," Miller said. "They executed the mission without hesitation in a flawless manner. They never complained or questioned anything. They are simply incredible Airmen."

At Dyess, Airmen from the 40th AS were greeted by friends and family members.

"It feels great to be home just in time for my son's birth," said Senior Airman Dakota Sizemore, 317th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron aerospace maintenance journeyman. "Nothing makes me happier for the chance to be there for him and my wife."

In the past year, the 317th AG has seen a high operations tempo, at times supporting all geographic Combatant Commands simultaneously. The 40th AS homecoming marked the third group of 317th Airmen to redeploy in less than a week. 317th AG members also returned from deployments in support of U.S. Air Forces Europe, U.S. Central Command and U.S. Africa Command.