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NEWS | May 6, 2009

Mission complete: 16 AS returns

By Staff Sgt. Daniel Bowles 437th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

More than 140 Airmen assigned to the 16th Airlift Squadron here returned home May 3 after a 120-day deployment in support of combat operations in the Middle East.

Lt. Col. Christopher Mann, 16 AS commander, surrounded by his wife, Isabel, and two children, Natalie, 14, and Alex, 5, on the Charleston AFB flightline the morning of his return, offered a single word to describe how it felt to be home.

"Fantastic!" he said. "It's great to see all of the Charleston people come out to support us once again.

"All I can say is I am absolutely amazed by how hard the members of my squadron have worked and how much they have done," said Colonel Mann. "It's just incredible, absolutely incredible."

As his Airmen exited the plane that safely returned them home to their loved ones, each was issued a single sentimental red rose, with the very first presented to Capt. Dan Blum, a pilot with the 16 AS.

Captain Blum said he was the lucky winner of a silent auction dubbed the First Kiss Contest, placing him at the front of the line to deplane and at the top of the list for a first kiss, courtesy of his wife, Joanna.

"It was worth the wait," Captain Blum said. "I can't wait to spend the next few weeks with my family.

"It's been a long four months," he said.

To help ease the distance felt between themselves and their families, some Airmen had the opportunity to communicate from overseas using video, said Tech. Sgt. Auggie Nalsen, a loadmaster with the 16 AS.

"I could do video conferencing ... and when I got back just now, I saw recognition in my baby's face. She recognized me as her daddy," he said. "That was huge. She's only 1-year-and-four-months old."

In spite of the difficulty of family separation, the 16 AS kept busy with their mission during the long months. While deployed, the 16 AS formed the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, and flew more than 3,000 missions.

Their arrival in the deployed location was in late December 2008 and they performed operations in the region with life support, tactics, intelligence, flying crew chiefs and flightline maintenance aircrews.

Squadron member's efforts produced high marks for their number of flying hours, ton-miles flown and number of drop zones supplies were delivered to. The C-17 sorties flown transported close to 60,000 passengers and more than 110 million pounds of cargo, with 15 percent more flying hours than the previous record high for the 816 EAS.

Sergeant Nalsen said it was his second time deploying with the 16 AS, and said the missions this time around were often longer due to the Afghanistan surge.
"It's different every time," Sergeant Nalsen said.

A unique mission the 816 EAS took on was a newly devised psychological operations mission. The 816 EAS was the first to use the C-17A aircraft to drop anti-insurgent and anti-improvised explosive device leaflets in combat. Missions flown dropped nearly 600,000 leaflets over insurgent strongholds in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

"The airmen of the 16 AS provided a tremendous amount of support to the war fighters," said Chief Master Sgt. Steven Woodside, 16 AS superintendent. "Every day, the C-17s and the men and women who supported them proved, once again, just how critical airlift is in the fight. The wing and the Air Force can be very proud of the accomplishments and all the tasking, both air-land and airdrop. I'm very happy to be home, to take some time with the family and regroup, do some more training, and prepare for the next deployment."