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Joint Base Balad Airmen prepare tower for transition

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Amber R. Kelly-Herard
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq --  Climbing 107 steps is the only way to get to the top of the 332nd Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron Air Traffic Control tower at Joint Base Balad, Iraq.

While not always an easy task, there is a wall on the sixth floor that allows for a moment to pause.

The wall inside the tower stairwell contains hundreds of signatures from every controller that has worked there since 2004.

The tower is in the process of getting ready to be transitioned over as U.S. forces drawdown out of Iraq by the end of the year, which unfortunately means the wall will be painted over.

Staff Sgt. Elena Carmody, 332 EOSS air traffic controller supervisor, is one of few controllers who has been to JB Balad twice, from 2006 to 2007, and now. She has seen the wall when the tower was at its busiest point and now as it is about to be handed over to the Iraqi air force.

"The difference from 06 to 07 and the deployment here is amazing, the traffic is slower and there are less people," said Carmody, who is deployed from Ramstein Air Base, Germany. "I remember my first time being in local position during this deployment. It was drastically slower, especially since the base lost the heavy aircraft."

"It will be pretty awesome though to be able to say I helped shutdown one of the Air Force's busiest bases," continued the Reno, Nev., native.

Although operations here are slower, it does not mean the tower has stopped all activity.

"Working here is still really busy which makes getting all the planes on the ground safely an awesome experience," said Carmody. "There are a lot of different operations going on here and we get to work with HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles and F-16 Fighting Falcons which is wonderful experience."

Painting the wall may seem like erasing a wall that has impacted so many people, but it leads JBB one step closer being ready to be transferred over to the IqAF.