Col. Thomas Gould, commander of the 31st Operations Group at Aviano Air Base, Italy, greets Capt. Tim Nagy as he steps off the World Airways jet that returned him and more than 60 other members of the 603rd Air Control Squadron back from a four-month deployment to Qatar. (Kent Harris / S&S)
Col. Thomas Gould, commander of the 31st Operations Group at Aviano Air Base, Italy, greets Capt. Tim Nagy as he steps off the World Airways jet that returned him and more than 60 other members of the 603rd Air Control Squadron back from a four-month deployment to Qatar. (Kent Harris / S&S)
Senior Airman Craig Stanicki reunites with his wife, Elizabeth, and 1-year-old daughter Emma on Saturday after returning to Aviano. (Kent Harris / S&S)
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy — Halloween. Thanksgiving. Christmas. New Year’s. The inauguration of a new U.S. president.
Four months might not seem like a long time to some, but 62 members of the 603rd Air Control Squadron missed a lot of celebrations with their families.
"Christmas and three birthdays," said Brendan Rouse, whose wife — Tech. Sgt. Anna Rouse — returned Saturday. The couple have four children: Alyssa, 17, Mikayla, 11, Gabriel, 8, and Israel, 4.
"And I suck at Christmas," said Brendan Rouse, who works for the child development center on base. "The boys I can shop for, but the girls. …"
Mom will get a chance to help with shopping now. She and the rest of the Scorpions who returned from their deployment to Al Udeid, Qatar, on a World Airways jet haven’t had a lot of time for that sort of thing lately.
Maj. Robert Peacock, who led the contingent of 603rd airmen during its deployment, said there was plenty of work for the squadron to take on.
"We made a lot of changes," he said. "And definitely made an impact on air defense in the area."
Some of that is due to the next generation of tactical command and control equipment the squadron started to use in theater.
The 603rd is one of only a handful of active-duty squadrons in the Air Force that serve as air controllers in deployed locations. Military and civilian air controllers in places such as Aviano, for example, work out of towers and control the traffic in a relatively small area. Units such as the 603rd have a much broader area to monitor. And instead of monitoring takeoffs and landings, they coordinate missions and monitor potential air threats against coalition assets.
During this tour, that meant working with air defense units such as Army Patriot Missile batteries and Navy cruisers, Peacock said, as well as other Air Force units. He said much of the equipment the squadron has used in past deployments is more than two decades old. Its range was more limited, requiring airmen to be stationed closer to the action.
"It’s a leap forward of about 30 years in technology," he said.
In past rotations, the 603rd airmen have deployed to dangerous locations in Iraq and Afghanistan. During a 2004 deployment in Iraq, they set up operations at Baghdad International Airport, then packed up and moved themselves to Balad and began operating there. Senior Airman Antoine Holt was later killed there in a mortar attack.
Peacock said the squadron’s area of responsibility this time — all coordinated from Qatar — encompasses six nations where about 20,000 coalition troops are deployed. Another 62 airmen from the squadron are now using the equipment and are expected to start coordinating efforts over Afghanistan in the next few months.
President Barack Obama and U.S. military leaders have called for more U.S. troops to be sent to that country to take on the Taliban and other forces operating against the government and NATO-led coalition.
"It’s going to start getting really busy," said Lt. Col. Matthew Smith, the 603rd commander.
Despite its new equipment, Peacock and Smith said the most important assets the squadron has are the airmen who operate that equipment. And those airmen seemed more interested in looking forward than backward Saturday.
"Shower. Go home. Eat. Take a nap. I haven’t slept much," said Airman 1st Class Craig Stanwicki, hugging his wife, Elizabeth and 1-year-old daughter, Emma. "Christmas," Elizabeth Stanwicki said. "And Christmas," Craig Stanwicki said, agreeing with a smile.
