Troops Project Humanitarian Aid to North Africa

By Air Force Master Sgt. Jim Fisher

17th Air Force

SOUDA BAY, Crete, March 7, 2011 – The team projecting humanitarian airlift missions into North Africa entered its fourth day of operations today, taking satisfaction from the more than 450 displaced Egyptian citizens ferried home from Tunisia.

While the airlift needs were evolving along with the humanitarian crisis on Libya’s borders, the team continued the behind-the-scenes functions vital to making sure humanitarian airlift are available for further tasking.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Ashley Vazquez, a command post controller with the 435th Air Mobility Squadron, has been working with teammates on everything from tracking people and equipment to building flight plans.

“We track all the personnel and aircraft -- we track flights, we set up all the communications equipment, making sure that we can talk to our flight crews in the air,” she said. At Souda Bay, Vazquez is part of the 435th Contingency Response Group, based at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Known as the 435th Contingency Response Element while on Crete, they make the mission happen alongside airmen from the 37th Airlift Squadron.

“We just make sure everyone’s taken care of while they are here,” Vazquez said.

Much of this work is not captured by newsreels of evacuees gratefully touching down in Cairo, but is vital to making it happen, said Air Force Lt. Col. Charles “Doc” Schlegel, the contingency response element commander while deployed here and 435th Air Mobility Squadron commander at Ramstein.

“There are a lot of little things that must be done for us to be able to fly these missions,” Schlegel said. “These guys have done a fantastic job, and when you see us on the news bringing people home safely after they have fled the conflict in Libya, you are only seeing part of the piece of the overall effort. Our whole teams, including our CRE element, aircrew, ravens, public affairs specialists and many others have all been crucial to the success of this important humanitarian mission.”

Flexibility and versatility have made it possible for the small team -- fewer than 30 people are currently supporting the mission at Souda -- to get a lot done, said Air Force Staff Sgt. Justin Hairston, an air transportation craftsman with the contingency response element.

“We’re a small unit, and we use cross-utilization training,” he explained. “Everybody works together; everybody knows a little bit about everybody else’s job. You have your subject matter experts, but everybody helps everybody out. That’s what makes the [contingency response group] great,” Hairston said.

Though their work is behind the scenes, the footage making network news in the United States and Europe is what makes it all worth it, Hairston said.

“Personally, my satisfaction comes from seeing these people getting home,” he said. “It’s nice to be a part of something like this. A lot of times you see things like this on the news, but to actually be a part of it, I feel very fortunate, very blessed to be here to help these people.”

The airlift squadron and contingency response element did not fly today, waiting for further requests for assistance as part of the larger U.S. government and international effort to relieve suffering in the wake of the crisis.

“We are happy with what we’ve been able to get done so far in support of our State Department and U.S. Africa Command [missions],” Schlegel said. “We are standing by for more.”

Woodstock Anniversary

We are reminded that the 40th anniversary of Woodstock is upon us. I
was in highschool for the 20th and college for the 25th, and back then, the Woodstock anniversaries were a very big deal. But this year its snuck up on us.


Are we finally past the 60's nostaligia? Will the Balding Boomers for once just shut the hell up about the 60's?

One of the caharacters of my novel, A Line Through the Desert, is a girzled tank platoon leader who can't shut up about his time in Vietnam:

“You sure you should be eating this stuff?” Grady asked Jake. “It bein’ Christmas an all? Prod B?” The man crammed a forkful of turkey into his mouth.

Jake swatted a fly off his tray. “Shut up,” Jake irritably replied. “It’s better than MREs.”

“You should try K- rations,” said Sergeant Snyder.

The other Sergeants glared at Jake, Grady looked like he wanted to rip Jake’s head off. Oh Christ, Jake thought to himself, here we go. Sergeant Snyder spent the next few minutes talking about K- rations, not how they measured up to MREs, just about them, the food, the gum, the cigarettes and aspirin…Ever since they arrived in the Gulf, he refused to shut up about Vietnam. At first, Jake found it interesting. Sgt. Snyder never talked about Vietnam before. But he just wouldn’t stop. If an M-1 got stuck in the sand, Sergeant Snyder talked about getting M-48’s out of Vietnamese mud. If the bugs were getting to everyone, he’d reminisce about fighting off gigantic red Vietnamese fire ants. When Jake complained about not being able to shower, Sergeant Snyder talked about how during the monsoon season, he used to shower in the rain...

So why not the Balding Boomer self regarding, self congradulatory love fest this time around? Have they forgotten about their precious Summer of Love? Is the market for this sort of thing finally saturated? Who can say?

I remember a few years ago watching a Balding Boomer pundit (Mark Shields) on TV being asked about what it would take to 'end' the battle for Iraq. Shields said it would take a Republican stalwort to rise in the senate and join the opposition, like Mike Mansfield did during the Vietnam War.

I didn't know who Mike Mansfield was, I had to look him up. What's funny is that Shields brought up Mike Mansfield without realizing that he had just lost everyone in the audience under 50.

Eunice Kennedy Shrive died yesterday. She was President Kennedy's sister. But who cares? Why is Kennedy's sister dying news? Why not the death of Chester A Arther's grand newphew? As iexplained to a Balding Boomer once (my father), when start droning on to an 18 year old aabout Kennedy and the Vietnam War, that's like some gilded age geezer pestering you about President McKinley and the Philippine counter-inusrgency.

As a historian - published and everything - I can assure you, that the technical term for all this is anceint F!@#@$&! history.

The Battle of 73 Easting

My Novel, A Line Through the Desert follows one tank Sgt. in the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment during Operation Desert Storm.

The 2nd ACR was the vanguard of General Schwarzkopf's left hook around Iraqi positions in Kuwait. The regiment advanced with three squadrons abreast, 2nd Squadron on the left, 3rd Squadron in the center, and 1st Squadron on the right. 2nd Squadron, itself composed of four troops, advanced in box formation, with Ghost troop on the left and Eagle on the right.

The climate was awful, cold and wet, alternating between rain and fog, and horrific sand storms which limited visibility to a few hundred yards. Even infrared sensors had trouble penetrating the soup. In the late afternoon of 26 February, 1991, the 2nd ACR encountered lead elements of the Tawalkana Division of the Republican Guard. The place was called 73 Easting, an imaginary line on a map deliniating the kilometers the unit had advanced that morning.

Eagle Troop's part in this battle has been well documented by the estimable Mr. Clancy, a great inspiration to me personally. As Eagle troop blasted Iraqi tanks out of a village, Ghost troop came upon the reverse slope of a wadi where they met several dozen dug in Iraq tanks. As bad as Ghost Troop's visibility was, the Iraqis, lacking any night vision or infrared equipment, was worse. They never new what hit them. The Iraqis were annihilated.

From there, Ghost Troop took up positions on the wadi and repelled four assaults by the Tawalkana, destroying hundreds of vehicles in the process. The tank and Bradley gunners, backed by artillery and Apache gunships when weather permitted, unleashed a hell of uranium depleted Sabot shells, HE rounds, and Tow missiles. Concluded historian Rick Atkinson, who wrote an excellent account of Desert Storm, 'The Iraqis never stood a chance.'

Below is a link to A Line Through the Desert, decribing Ghost Troop's initial encounter with the Republican Guard: The Battle Begins

Good Evening & Greetings

First an introduction.

My name is William Stroock. The boss graciously invited me to blog here. I am a civilian writer specializing in history and military history magazine articles. Here's a link to an article I have in the current issue of Military Heritage Magazine if you want to get a feel for what I do.

Also I have recently published a novel, A Line Through the Desert, currently available at Amazon. Briefly, A Line Through the Desert follows a young Sgt. in the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment during the First Gulf War, culminating with the Battle of 73 Easting, 26 February, 1991.

Now, what do I here? I'm going to provide round ups and commentary on war news from all over the world, specifically, the War on Terror, but other areas as needed. So, what does the badly named War on Terror encompass? Obviously Iraq and Afghanistan, but also Somalia, where Islamist militants are battling a weak western backed government and Israel which fights both Hamas (in Gaza) and Hezbollah (in Lebanon) two terrorist groups supported by Iran. Other areas include the Philippines and Pakistan.

With that in mind, lets take a look at the big news.

Today Israel conducted a nationwide drill simulating a massive terrorist attack, presumably a missile attack from Iran. This is very interesting as for more than a year, the Israelis have given every indication that they are going to launch a massive strike on Iran's nuclear program.

Let's consider the facts.

-In the fall of 2007 the IAF destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor built with Iranian and North Korean help.

-Last spring, the IAF conducted an exercise off the coast of Greece, simulating an attack on several targets. Greece is about the same distance as Iran is from Israel. Greece also operates the Russian made S-300 SAM system, which Iran has purchased. This exercise involved more than 100 jets and helicopters.

-The opening move of Operation Cast Lead, Israel's incursion into the Gaza Strip last December/January, saw more than 100 Israeli aircraft hit Hamas positions in two waves, with the first wave of 60 aircraft each hitting their targets in a well coordinated simultaneous strike.

To really damage Iran's nuclear program, the Israelis have to take out three main sites, the Uranium enrichment facility in Nataz (in Central Iran), the reactor at Bushehr (on the Persian Gulf) and the research center in the city of Esphahan.

A large, coordinated strike, like the one the Israelis seem to be rehearsing for, would be the only feasible way to do so from the air. Destroying Bushehr would necessarily alert Nataz.

Of course, that's if the Israelis aren't cooking up something else altogether...