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388th Fighter Wing troops deployed to Iraq
January 5, 2005 (by
Lieven Dewitte) -
Pilots from the 34th Fighter Squadron deployed from Hill Air Force Base to Iraq where they'll assist ground troops. After a year of preparation, members of the 388th fighter wing will spend a four month rotation in the Middle East.
The maintenance experts, pilots and operations support from the 388th Fighter Wing already left on Sunday. This is their first deployment.
The deployments are fixed rotations, and even though the squadron plans to be gone for only four months, many say it's still hard to leave family.
The squadron has been preparing for about a year.
The F-16 deployment is intended to maintain security for Army ground troops and look for suspicious activity around critical infrastructure, like pipelines and electrical grids.
The 34th Fighter Squadron is one of three fighter squadrons assigned to the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. The unit operates and maintains Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night, or LANTIRN, F-16s.
As part of the world's largest LANTIRN F-16 wing, the 34th FS conducts flying operations and equipment maintenance to maintain combat readiness of a 18-aircraft F-16C LANTIRN squadron.
34th FS (Jon Somerville collection)
The deployments are fixed rotations, and even though the squadron plans to be gone for only four months, many say it's still hard to leave family.
The squadron has been preparing for about a year.
The F-16 deployment is intended to maintain security for Army ground troops and look for suspicious activity around critical infrastructure, like pipelines and electrical grids.
The 34th Fighter Squadron is one of three fighter squadrons assigned to the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. The unit operates and maintains Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night, or LANTIRN, F-16s.
As part of the world's largest LANTIRN F-16 wing, the 34th FS conducts flying operations and equipment maintenance to maintain combat readiness of a 18-aircraft F-16C LANTIRN squadron.
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