thedrifter
04-14-07, 08:53 AM
Air Guard prepares for Deployment
April 13, 2007 09:32 AM
Boise, Idaho -- Nearly 200 members of the Idaho Air National Guard are preparing for deployment.
They're heading for a base in Iraq where they will remain for the next 60 to 120 days.
The men and women have known this was coming and have been preparing for it over the last six months. Some of those preparations involve the planes they're taking with them.
"They're going to be doing the A-10's typical mission over there which is close air support, and combat search and rescue," said Lt. Tony Vincelli.
The nearly 200 members of the Idaho Air Guard will have their jobs cut out for them. According to Vincelli, a large group will be there for maintenance purposes. The others, mostly pilots, could be in harms way.
"Protecting troops on the ground, our coalition forces on the ground, looking for potential insurgents, people who are planting I.E.D.s on the roadsides," Vincelli said.
"Actually, the areas that our Army and Marines are going into are pretty hostile environments, and simply just having air power overhead creates the tendency for the enemy to not want to get involved," said Col. J.R. Compton.
That has everything to do with the planes themselves, and more importantly what they're carrying.
The weaponry that equips these A-10 Warthogs is exactly why the military wants the 190th Fighter Squadron involved. And the A-10's feature weapon is easily visible -- right on the nose of the plane.
"It shoots a 30mm round -- 60 to 70 of them every single second. It can do a lot of damage to tanks and vehicles, really anything that it lines up in it's sites," said Vincelli.
But the plane is also equipped with a number of bombs and a new addition, called a targeting pod. The device holds a number of cameras and lasers that officials believe will help avert friendly fire situations, like the one that killed a coalition soldier in 2003.
"With our targeting pod, our night vision goggles, we're able to see where the friendly forces are, we're able to see where the enemy is, and look at the areas of interest that we've been tasked to look for," said Compton.
But the pod also comes with a laser guided mechanism, insuring that one bomb will be more accurate and even more affective as many.
"We want to have very little collateral damage. We're not there to tear up the country, we're there to rebuild it. The sooner we can do that, the sooner we can all come home," Compton said.
The deployment is scheduled to take place next month.
While the guard works to finish its final preparations, officials are also actively working with family coordinators to insure that relatives of guard members have everything they need while their loved ones are fighting overseas.
Ellie
April 13, 2007 09:32 AM
Boise, Idaho -- Nearly 200 members of the Idaho Air National Guard are preparing for deployment.
They're heading for a base in Iraq where they will remain for the next 60 to 120 days.
The men and women have known this was coming and have been preparing for it over the last six months. Some of those preparations involve the planes they're taking with them.
"They're going to be doing the A-10's typical mission over there which is close air support, and combat search and rescue," said Lt. Tony Vincelli.
The nearly 200 members of the Idaho Air Guard will have their jobs cut out for them. According to Vincelli, a large group will be there for maintenance purposes. The others, mostly pilots, could be in harms way.
"Protecting troops on the ground, our coalition forces on the ground, looking for potential insurgents, people who are planting I.E.D.s on the roadsides," Vincelli said.
"Actually, the areas that our Army and Marines are going into are pretty hostile environments, and simply just having air power overhead creates the tendency for the enemy to not want to get involved," said Col. J.R. Compton.
That has everything to do with the planes themselves, and more importantly what they're carrying.
The weaponry that equips these A-10 Warthogs is exactly why the military wants the 190th Fighter Squadron involved. And the A-10's feature weapon is easily visible -- right on the nose of the plane.
"It shoots a 30mm round -- 60 to 70 of them every single second. It can do a lot of damage to tanks and vehicles, really anything that it lines up in it's sites," said Vincelli.
But the plane is also equipped with a number of bombs and a new addition, called a targeting pod. The device holds a number of cameras and lasers that officials believe will help avert friendly fire situations, like the one that killed a coalition soldier in 2003.
"With our targeting pod, our night vision goggles, we're able to see where the friendly forces are, we're able to see where the enemy is, and look at the areas of interest that we've been tasked to look for," said Compton.
But the pod also comes with a laser guided mechanism, insuring that one bomb will be more accurate and even more affective as many.
"We want to have very little collateral damage. We're not there to tear up the country, we're there to rebuild it. The sooner we can do that, the sooner we can all come home," Compton said.
The deployment is scheduled to take place next month.
While the guard works to finish its final preparations, officials are also actively working with family coordinators to insure that relatives of guard members have everything they need while their loved ones are fighting overseas.
Ellie