Photo By Master Sgt. Becky Vanshur | The 190th Fighter Squadron "Warthog" pilots trained with close air support missions at...... read more read more
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BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. – Pilots from the 190th Fighter Squadron and their supporting team of 124th Fighter Wing Airmen, traveled to Exercise Green Flag East where they “unleashed the hogs.” From the operating base of Barksdale, they decisively turned a major ground maneuver exercise at the nearby Fort Polk Training Center in favor of the “Blue Forces.”
More than 130 Airmen from the Idaho Air National Guard and nine A-10 Thunderbolt II “Warthogs” flew for the nearly three-week air combat exercise in the northwest region of Louisiana March 9-26 of 2014.
Lt. Col. Brett Waring, Green Flag East commander, praised the 124FW and the 190FS Airmen as the exercise wound down. He spoke to Airmen about the success of the training. 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.
“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,” said Waring. “We had the most kinetic strike operations, in the last three years of Green Flag, just in those last few days. The Army, for those of you that didn’t hear, over there opposite the operations side, the Army got it handed to them. 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."
Maj. Jennifer Chase, Idaho’s deployed detachment commander, had many goals for Green Flag. One goal was met by successfully deploying to Barksdale and completing the daily sorties and missions.
“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. The quality of this exercise is directly attributed to the professionalism of the men and women in our wing,” said Chase. “We supported every sortie with absolutely zero maintenance or operation cancellations.”
Another goal for the deployment was to foster camaraderie amongst the Airmen in different squadrons, groups, and flights. Chase said Green Flag East was a beneficial exercise for everyone involved.
“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 benefited every Airman from the newest Airmen, who has never deployed, to wing leadership,” said Chase.
"The A-10 community has always been tight across the different shops between ops, maintenance, munitions, and support. Everybody knows what it means to load bombs onto that bird and see them come back without them," said Waring.
Although the A-10 “Warthog” is known for close air support and air-to-ground support, 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.
"We unleashed the hogs, and you all performed brilliantly from that. 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,” said Waring. “So what does that all mean? Single purpose, single mission? My a--. That bird out there kicks a-- because of what you all have done with it."
-Unleash the hogs.
| Date Taken: | 05.02.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 05.02.2014 11:34 |
| Story ID: | 128528 |
| Location: | BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, LOUISIANA, US |
| Hometown: | BOISE, IDAHO, US |
| Web Views: | 2,272 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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