1st Lt. Mike Chmielewski is looking forward to training. The Air Force is sending him to three schools while his squadron is gone. (Jennifer H. Svan / S&S)

1st Lt. Mike Chmielewski is looking forward to training. The Air Force is sending him to three schools while his squadron is gone. (Jennifer H. Svan / S&S)

“We’ve been calling ourselves the ‘27th Fighter Squadron,’” — 13 plus 14 — said Capt. Brian Deas. (Jennifer H. Svan / S&S)

MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — Of the two first lieutenants in the 13th Fighter Squadron, only one got to go to war.

Instead of flying combat sorties over Iraq this summer, Mike Chmielewski will be getting to know northern Japan.

“The other first lieutenant, we both graduated from the (U.S. Air Force) academy the same year, we were both in the same numbered pilot training class,” Chmielewski said. “He got here three weeks before me.”

Having arrived at Misawa on Feb. 3 fresh from the F-16 basic course at Springfield, Ohio, Chmielewski ensured his place at the bottom of the pecking order.

“They could only send so many pilots,” he said. “It’s based on how long you’ve been here.”

He trained with the other pilots this spring and was ready to go.

“You get this one chance to go and it’s kind of a letdown,” he allowed. But with the current operations tempo, he’s banking on a second chance. “If I extend here, I’ll get the opportunity” to go, he said.

At least Chmielewski, 25, isn’t alone.

Four other pilots with the 13th also are staying behind — captains who either arrived at Misawa this spring or who are headed for a new duty station this summer.

And although these five pilots are staying home, they are homeless, in a sense.

Their squadron was shuttered after the 13th deployed May 26. The pilots now report to the 14th’s headquarters.

Chmielewski is still getting used to his new digs — well, at least the wall decor of 14th memorabilia and colors. Other than having to eyeball the “Samurai’s” bright yellow walls instead of the “Panther’s” red, the squadrons’ buildings have identical floor plans, Chmielewski said.

The 14th returned on Saturday but most of the pilots won’t be back to work for at least two weeks.

A few pilots from the 14th also stayed behind, but with rank come privileges. Certain jobs fall to first lieutenants, such as taking the trash out, making coffee and popcorn, ordering uniform patches, rolling money and keeping the snack bar full, Chmielewski said.

“If the snack bar is stocked, everyone is happy,” he said. “It’s when it’s not stocked, you get the hint, sometimes not so subtle.”

But Chmielewski didn’t miss out on combat just to inventory snacks. He still’s flying, along with the other 13th and 14th pilots that stayed back and a handful of military fliers from the 35th Operations Support Squadron, to carry out the F-16 mission in northern Japan.

“We’ve been calling ourselves the ‘27th Fighter Squadron,’” — 13 plus 14 — said Capt. Brian Deas.

A seasoned pilot with three years of flying at Misawa, Deas, 30, missed the Iraq cut because of an upcoming permanent-change-of-station move.

An instructor pilot, he spent the months leading up to the deployment teaching the squadron’s other pilots how to use the targeting pod, a high-tech flight instrument that enables the F-16s to provide close air support to ground troops. It’s a skill he won’t be using this summer.

“I get to teach them to do the job while I stay home,” he said. “I think all of us wanted to go with the squadron, be a part of it.”

But for Deas, flying the F-16 presents other opportunities he’s excited about.

After getting his master’s degree in electrical engineering, he’ll go to Edwards Air Force Base in California for test pilot school. As a test pilot, he’ll try out new developmental systems for the Air Force, flying with them “to make sure they work as advertised,” he said.

Chmielewski also is looking forward to training. The Air Force is sending him to three schools while his squadron is gone.

And he’s looking forward to getting to know the 14th pilots.

“From what I have heard, there’s been some rivalry,” he said. “I think it’s a really good opportunity to get to know everyone in both squadrons.”