90th FS returns home from Guam AEF tasking

  • Published
  • By Capt. Kelley Jeter
  • 3rd Wing Public Affairs
ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  When almost 300 people returned with the 90th Fighter Squadron from Andersen Air Force Base recently, some didn't understand why an Aerospace Expeditionary Force went to Guam instead of Southwest Asia.

In these days of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, it can be difficult for some to get the connection between "Guam" and "deployment." Lt. Col. Colin Wright is the commander of the 90th FS here, recently of the 90th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron in Guam, and explained the significance of their particular AEF tasking.

"We were there as part of a Theater Support Package for Pacific Command, to have stabilizing forces in the Pacific theater, specifically for the North Korean threat," he said.

The last four AEF deployments the 90th Fighter Squadron's "Dicemen" went on were to South Korea, but this time, there was even more on the agenda than keeping a highly visible deterrent presence on the Korean peninsula.

"Part of it was in preparation for a lasting fighter presence at Andersen," he said. "We were working on local area procedures, arrival and departure procedures, and on giving them recommendations for the air space around Guam."

Colonel Wright said that once they are in place, the F-22 squadrons at both Hickam AFB in Hawaii and at Elmendorf will have a regular forward presence at Andersen in order to keep robust fighter capabilities in the theater.

In addition to their already full dance card, the Dicemen managed to squeeze in two major joint exercises and one forward deployment to Osan Air Base in South Korea.
They were the only U.S. players in Exercise Cope North 06-2, which conducted dissimilar air combat training with the Japanese Air Self Defense Force. The work the 90th EFS did with the E-2's and F-4EJ's greatly increased our interoperability with Japan, a key ally in the region.

The second exercise they participated in was the largest PACOM exercise in several decades, with 283 aircraft and three carrier battle groups participating.

"Exercise Valiant Shield 06 was the largest exercise hosted at Guam since the Vietnam era. We had five fighter squadrons, we had Navy and Marine air, we had two E-3 AWACS, tons of P-3's, a tanker task force of over 20 KC-135s ..." Colonel Wright emphasized the joint aspect of this impressive exercise that logged over 2,000 sorties.

The exercise was a rare opportunity to practice full scale, joint maritime interdiction tactics. The Navy provided target ship formations for us to seek out and destroy. As a maritime interdiction "Lane Boss" we would direct 30 or so Navy, Air Force, or Marine fighters to their targets over a 3-6 hour mission.

"Overnight, they steamed three aircraft carriers abeam each other, with destroyers and battleships behind them in line formations, and we flew over them in the morning for a huge public affairs event to kick off the exercise." Colonel Wright shook his head, still in apparent disbelief: "I don't know if I've ever seen three aircraft carriers together unless they were in the port at the same time."

And forward deploying to Osan AB was always in the plan for this deployment, but that became a particularly interesting move when the North Korean government launched several missiles on the 4th of July.

The Dicemen were on an elevated state of readiness in response to the launches, and found it convenient that they were a three-hour flight away, as opposed to their usual nine. Tankers, B-2 bombers and fighters were ready at all times throughout the incident.
But despite the tension created by the launches, the 90th EFS didn't change its plans.

"We flew a joint Korean exercise, and then close-air support sorties in P-518, which is a restricted area on the Korean DMZ (demilitarized zone)," said Colonel Wright. "There were 13 guys in the squadron who had never fl own in Korea," so getting to train them on what it looks and sounds like, what the procedures and restrictions are, was invaluable training for any possible future operations over the Korean peninsula.

All in all, Colonel Wright says it was an outstanding deployment with nonstop training opportunities, and a chance to take his squadron on the road for exercises and a well-timed show of force. One thing he wanted to make sure didn't go unsaid, was how incredible the support was from back home. "The folks that we left behind got to handle all of the home station problems that are always there, that never go away, even though you deploy. They negotiated a lot of the BRAC issues, and then they moved the squadron, in the last month while we were gone."

As the 90th Fighter Squadron will be changing over from the F-15E to the F-22A next year, their operating buildings had to be vacated in order to do the renovations necessary to house the new mission.

Three officers and seven enlisted people were all that were left behind to make the big move and separate out all the squadron's assets to move, keep, give away, or store elsewhere until they're back in their buildings. They had some help from the attached fliers assigned to the 3rd Operations Support Squadron and Operations Group, and Colonel Wright wanted to be sure to thank those people and their commanders for letting them assist when his home squadron was stretched so thin.

"For me, the best thing was seeing everyone pull together. Seeing folks step up and fix problems, come up with better ways of doing business - and all without being asked or tasked - just drove home what an incredible group we have in our Air Force."
"The families were taken care of back home, we had no big issues there, and everyone just pulled together to get the mission done."

No commander, no matter where they deploy to, can ask for more than that.