About 70 Airmen of the Delaware Air Guard returning home from Southwest Asia aboard C-130 aircraft after July 4th
NEW CASTLE AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Delaware -- About 70 total Airmen of the Delaware Air National Guard are coming home after the Independence Day Holiday, arriving on the afternoons of Sunday, July 7 and Tuesday, July 9.
They will come home aboard unit C-130 transport aircraft after completing deployments that began in late February to the Southwest Asia combat zone where they served in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The Airmen are the last group of a contingent of about 100 unit Airmen who served up to 120 days under U.S. Air Force Central Command, operating their aircraft in several nations in the region.
In early May two previous groups of fellow unit Airmen arrived home after serving in the same location.
The returning Delaware Air Guard Airmen are from two groups in the 166th Airlift Wing, and include C-130 aircrew and other Airmen with various critical job functions, and crews who maintain and repair the aircraft.
166th Airlift Wing Commander Col. Mike Feeley said, "I'm extremely proud of these Airmen and their service. Their families and the community should also be proud of their local heroes, because their service on the other side of the world is vital to the successful functioning of our continuing combat operations.
"I am sure this July 4th will have a special meaning for our Airmen returning to the land of the free and the home of the brave. As they will all be either packing up or travelling on Independence Day, hopefully the Airmen will find time to sing a patriotic song and find some hotdogs and hamburgers to eat."
The Delaware Air Guard Airmen are finishing up a decade of unit personnel deploying to combat zones while operating unit C-130 aircraft. Next week marks 10 years since the return home of hundreds of Delaware Air Guard Airmen after a challenging four-month wartime deployment that took them into Iraq and onto Baghdad International Airport. Since then thousands of unit Airmen accomplished hundreds of flying missions inside Afghanistan and throughout Southwest Asia.
The Delaware ANG has 1,100 members, and continually deploys personnel and subordinate units around the globe. This release is in the public domain, and any part may be used as written.
Delaware Air National Guard: Celebrating 67 years of Citizen-Airman service to our state and nation, 1946-2013
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