thedrifter
11-01-02, 08:34 AM
Strike First Marine Corps Blow Against Taliban
By Fred Allison
Shortly after midnight on Oct. 17, 2001, 150 miles off the coast of Pakistan in the Arabian Sea, an American aircraft carrier turned into the wind to launch aircraft. A U.S. flag was hoisted up the ship's halyard. It stirred, and then it began to pop and snap in the stiff breeze. Sailors and Marines stopped their prelaunch work on the flight deck to watch the flag go up. Others gathered on catwalks and observation points. All eyes, some moist with emotion, watched the flag that once had flown over the tallest buildings in New York—the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The flag had been recovered from the wreck and rubble left from Sept. 11 and delivered to the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) as she passed the Azores on the way to the Arabian Sea.
Four planes, two F-14 Tomcats and two F/A-18 Hornets, stood ready to launch. Catapults tensed, the jets' engines spooled up, their noses dipped, full afterburner and long tails of yellow and white fire blazed; quick salutes and a thunderous second later they were thrust into the blackness. For a few seconds the fighters were visible; they turned north—toward al-Qaida country.
So occurred the first mission launched from Theodore Roosevelt during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). The F-14s were Navy fighters from Fighter Squadron (VF) 102; the F/A-18s were Marines from Marine Fighter/Attack Squadron (VMFA) 251. This mission, flown by squadron commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Ray C. Damm and wingman Captain Simon M. Doran, represented the first Marine Corps strike against terrorism in OEF.
Based out of Marine Corps Air Station, Beaufort, S.C., VMFA-251, the "Thunderbolts" (T-bolts for short) had begun workups with Theodore Roosevelt's (TR's) Carrier Air Wing One (CVW-1) the previous February. On Sept. 11, 2001, everyone was counting down the few remaining days before deploying on a six-month cruise. There were eight left. The television was on in the squadron Ready Room when the airliners slammed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Marines gathered around to watch the events of that disastrously momentous day unfold. The upcoming cruise now had entirely different implications.
That evening LtCol Damm gathered his squadron together for an all-hands meeting in the hangar. He was reassuring at first, trying to put the day's events into perspective, then as his talk concluded, those events welled-up inside him, and he exhorted his men, "If this isn't enough to get you focused on your job and motivated to do everything right ... if today's events don't make you angry, then nothing will!"
There was no doubt they were motivated and not just to do their jobs correctly. There was something else that the Marines in VMFA-251 all hoped: that they could participate in America's retribution against the forces of terrorism.
And they did. The Thunderbolts not only delivered the Marine Corps' first blows against terrorism, but they did it in superb fashion. They set a new flight-time record for a Marine F/A-18 squadron, flying 1,285 hours in November 2001. During the course of combat operations against the Taliban in OEF, they flew 3,596 combat hours in 754 sorties, during which 445,000 pounds of bombs were dropped on agents of terrorism in Afghanistan.
TR herself set a new record for the number of consecutive days at sea for an aircraft carrier—159. Despite the demanding and intense operational tempo, there were no mishaps in VMFA-251, nor indeed among any of TR's air units, a rare occurrence during any six-month cruise, much less one in which combat operations predominated. It was indeed a history-making cruise.
Operations in OEF were demanding, especially in the early days when the battle against the Taliban hung in the balance. Upon arriving on station in the Arabian Sea, TR, being the "junior" carrier (USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) had preceded her), went to the "night page." That meant that she would launch her combat missions at night.
http://www.mca-marines.org/Leatherneck/tbolt.jpg
Thunderbolts of VMFA-251 added another line to the rich history of the Corps when they launched F/A-18 Hornets from USS Theodore Roosevelt, becoming the first Marine fighter/attack squadron to take the war on terrorism to the Taliban in Afghanistan. (Photo by PH2 Jeremy Hall, USN)
http://www.mca-marines.org/Leatherneck/TBoltArch.htm
Sempers,
Roger
By Fred Allison
Shortly after midnight on Oct. 17, 2001, 150 miles off the coast of Pakistan in the Arabian Sea, an American aircraft carrier turned into the wind to launch aircraft. A U.S. flag was hoisted up the ship's halyard. It stirred, and then it began to pop and snap in the stiff breeze. Sailors and Marines stopped their prelaunch work on the flight deck to watch the flag go up. Others gathered on catwalks and observation points. All eyes, some moist with emotion, watched the flag that once had flown over the tallest buildings in New York—the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The flag had been recovered from the wreck and rubble left from Sept. 11 and delivered to the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) as she passed the Azores on the way to the Arabian Sea.
Four planes, two F-14 Tomcats and two F/A-18 Hornets, stood ready to launch. Catapults tensed, the jets' engines spooled up, their noses dipped, full afterburner and long tails of yellow and white fire blazed; quick salutes and a thunderous second later they were thrust into the blackness. For a few seconds the fighters were visible; they turned north—toward al-Qaida country.
So occurred the first mission launched from Theodore Roosevelt during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). The F-14s were Navy fighters from Fighter Squadron (VF) 102; the F/A-18s were Marines from Marine Fighter/Attack Squadron (VMFA) 251. This mission, flown by squadron commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Ray C. Damm and wingman Captain Simon M. Doran, represented the first Marine Corps strike against terrorism in OEF.
Based out of Marine Corps Air Station, Beaufort, S.C., VMFA-251, the "Thunderbolts" (T-bolts for short) had begun workups with Theodore Roosevelt's (TR's) Carrier Air Wing One (CVW-1) the previous February. On Sept. 11, 2001, everyone was counting down the few remaining days before deploying on a six-month cruise. There were eight left. The television was on in the squadron Ready Room when the airliners slammed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Marines gathered around to watch the events of that disastrously momentous day unfold. The upcoming cruise now had entirely different implications.
That evening LtCol Damm gathered his squadron together for an all-hands meeting in the hangar. He was reassuring at first, trying to put the day's events into perspective, then as his talk concluded, those events welled-up inside him, and he exhorted his men, "If this isn't enough to get you focused on your job and motivated to do everything right ... if today's events don't make you angry, then nothing will!"
There was no doubt they were motivated and not just to do their jobs correctly. There was something else that the Marines in VMFA-251 all hoped: that they could participate in America's retribution against the forces of terrorism.
And they did. The Thunderbolts not only delivered the Marine Corps' first blows against terrorism, but they did it in superb fashion. They set a new flight-time record for a Marine F/A-18 squadron, flying 1,285 hours in November 2001. During the course of combat operations against the Taliban in OEF, they flew 3,596 combat hours in 754 sorties, during which 445,000 pounds of bombs were dropped on agents of terrorism in Afghanistan.
TR herself set a new record for the number of consecutive days at sea for an aircraft carrier—159. Despite the demanding and intense operational tempo, there were no mishaps in VMFA-251, nor indeed among any of TR's air units, a rare occurrence during any six-month cruise, much less one in which combat operations predominated. It was indeed a history-making cruise.
Operations in OEF were demanding, especially in the early days when the battle against the Taliban hung in the balance. Upon arriving on station in the Arabian Sea, TR, being the "junior" carrier (USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) had preceded her), went to the "night page." That meant that she would launch her combat missions at night.
http://www.mca-marines.org/Leatherneck/tbolt.jpg
Thunderbolts of VMFA-251 added another line to the rich history of the Corps when they launched F/A-18 Hornets from USS Theodore Roosevelt, becoming the first Marine fighter/attack squadron to take the war on terrorism to the Taliban in Afghanistan. (Photo by PH2 Jeremy Hall, USN)
http://www.mca-marines.org/Leatherneck/TBoltArch.htm
Sempers,
Roger