[Peace-discuss] who is the attacker?

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

Note: No fly zones were never authorized by UN at all. 

**

Air Force Pilots Return to Familiar Skies
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 
Filed at 3:43 p.m. ET

SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. (AP) -- Whether it's over Afghanistan, Kosovo or 
Iraq itself, U.S. fighters have been engaged in or patrolled some of the 
world's most dangerous airspace during the past decade, giving them 
invaluable experience as they face the prospect of another war.

Some of the pilots now deploying have an added experience benefit: They're 
returning to the same place where they fought in Desert Storm in 1991.

``It's like putting on an old pair of shoes. ... It's like driving through 
your old neighborhood,'' said Col. Jim Hunt, who dispatched an undisclosed 
number of F-117s to the Gulf last month from Holloman Air Force Base in New 
Mexico.

Many in the 20th Fighter Wing based at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, and the 
Air National Guard unit based nearby, have patrolled Iraqi skies repeatedly 
in recent years.

``These kids are the best asset the Air Force has,'' Lt. Col. Scott Manning 
said as he sat in the cockpit of his F-16CJ, readying for a flight to the 
Gulf.

More than 71 percent of the Air Force's combat pilots and navigators have 
combat experience, said Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Col. Christy Nolta.

Experience gathered through multiple deployments patrolling the northern or 
southern ``no-fly'' zones over Iraq will be vital to surviving combat should 
war start, military commanders say.

Hunt, commander of the 49th Fighter Wing, a 26-year Air Force veteran and an 
F-117 pilot who in flew Desert Storm, said experienced pilots and crews 
quickly adapt to the ``conflicted'' airspace of a potential combat zone where 
hundreds of aircraft may operate at varying speeds, directions and altitudes.

It's not just the pilots who have gotten used to Gulf tours.

Manning's crew chief, Staff Sgt. Kyle Boles, said he's been on nine 
deployments to the region during his 11 years of working on F-16s.

``I've been on enough deployments in the past to know what it takes to get 
ready,'' Boles said.

The F-16CJs from bases such as Shaw and McEntire Air National Guard Station 
about 20 miles away have been in high demand over Iraq. Their mission -- 
known in military lingo as suppression of enemy air defenses -- puts them on 
the leading edge of combat.

``We're the first in, last out,'' pilot ``D-Dawg,'' squadron commander from 
McEntire's 169th Fighter Wing, said as he prepared to leave for the Gulf. 
National Guard officials requested that deploying pilots use only their first 
name or radio call sign.

D-Dawg, who in civilian life is an American Airlines pilot, flew in Desert 
Storm, in patrols over Iraq and in Afghanistan last year.

``The problem with the no-fly zones, you got complacent flying around and 
around when nothing ever happened,'' D-Dawg said. ``This time, it will be 
different. We know the threats. We know they are going to shoot.''

Col. Tim Rush, the McEntire unit's operations commander, said it has had 
major deployments four times since 1999.

Of the 30 pilots who recently accompanied 15 F-16s to their undisclosed 
location in the Gulf, five had combat experience in Desert Storm, Rush said. 
Four other pilots logged missions over Kosovo in the mid-1990s, he said.

Every pilot at McEntire flying F-16s, except their newest lieutenant, have 
flown in either Northern Watch, Southern Watch, Afghanistan or the domestic 
defense patrols set up over U.S. cities after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 
11, 2001.

Because the Air Force has shrunk in size since the end of the Cold War but 
deployments have continued, remaining pilots have more chances to fly.

``The upside (of fewer pilots) is, it has produced a military far more 
experienced in combat. ... And this is a force that has seen many different 
types of combat, as well,'' said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the 
Lexington Institute thinktank in Arlington, Va.

The Air Force also has developed highly realistic training to test pilots 
with potential combat missions, said Col. Paul Dolson, deputy commander of 
operations for the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw.

``These pilots are probably more prepared than I was in 1990. ... We've 
reaped the benefits of more developed technology, and the availability to 
fly,'' he said. ``I don't remember being quite that ready.''