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Combat search and rescue squadron pushes forward as others draw down

  • Published
  • By Kali L. Gradishar
  • U.S. AFCENT Public Affairs
JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq --  A number of units here are seeing their mission cadence lullas the number of troops in Iraq are scheduled to decrease as part of an intense drawdown of combat forces in the country. Still, the 64th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron is on its toes doing everything but preparing for a return home, treating the four-month deployment here as quality training for the faster-paced mission in Afghanistan.

"A lot of the focus goes into training people here because it is still a combat environment to get them ready and prepared for the expectations of Afghanistan," said Staff. Sgt. Andrew Peña, a 64th ERQS aerial gunner deployed from the 55th Rescue Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. It's almost like "a practice deployment."

Prior to a training mission July 12, Capt. Jay Humphrey, 64th ERQS helicopter pilot and team lead, briefed the two-helicopter team on the day's procedures - what the overall training plan is, what's expected of the team and what the outtake from the training should be.

The team made their way to the flightline at day break to escape the 120-plus degree burn felt that day. Once the team stepped to the helicopter, the sun had already begun sinking its rays into the HH-60G Pave Hawk the rescue squadron operates.

The day's "mission rehearsal was to practice our reaction to a ground attack, focusing on the pilots' and crews' proficiency to react properly when engaged," said Sergeant Peña who is on his sixth.

"We had a two-ship formation of Pave Hawks (doing) an METP, which is a Mission Essential Task Profile - ..." added Captain Humphrey. "We (practiced) gunnery, some countermeasure procedures and landing zone work... It's a good opportunity for us to get out and stay sharp on our skills. With the slow operations tempo here in Iraq, we don't really get a chance to launch on a lot of actual rescue and recovery missions. So it's more of a chance to get out and fly about two times a week to stay on top of our game."

Over the past few years, Captain Humphrey has become familiar with deployments to JBB considering he has deployed here every year since 2005. In just the five years since his first deployment here, he's seen the area transform exponentially.

"The threat level has decreased significantly for helicopters," recalled the Tucson, Ariz., native. "I remember back in 2007, it was very common for us to be engaged in combat and have some very complex traps set up for us. There were anti-coalition forces trying to bring down helicopters."

"The threat is down. The overall (operations) tempo is down. We're starting to see the effects of the drawdown here," Captain Humphrey said. "It's been good to see the progress made here. We've actually done a lot of good for the country."

While not all 64th EQRS members have had the opportunity to see the Iraqi campaign transform from its hectic, demanding days to the drawdown, there is still a wide range of experience each member brings to the combat search and rescue mission here. This includes not only deployment experience, but also experience from the various units that make up the 64th ERQS.

Servicemembers from four different rescue squadrons join together to form what is dubbed "The Rainbow Coalition," a hodgepodge of people, personality and experience that brings both benefits and challenges alike.

"We have some crewmembers here who are very inexperienced in the Pave Hawk... so we've had to spread some of that experience around," Captain Humphrey said. "That has some benefits, too, so we can see how some other squadrons are doing business at their home station, and get some... good tactics and techniques."

The two day-shift and four night-shift crew continues to improve interaction between the four squadrons making up the unit, both in training missions and when they're on 24/7 alert at their squadron building. It takes time to learn the ins and outs of each crew member's personality, often a necessity to operate in such a stressful environment.

"Working with people from different squadrons, you have to build those working relationships from scratch and understand where each person comes from in order to have a solid foundation for a good crew," explained Sergeant Peña, a Las Cruces, N.M., native who was last at JBB from February to June 2009.

Though the unit may be a conglomeration of servicemembers from different units, each member of the combat search and rescue mission seems to have the same mentality toward the physically, emotionally and time consuming operations - it's worth it.

The CSAR mission is something Staff Sgt. Aron Walton has always wanted to do, said the 64th EQRS flight engineer on his first deployment from the 41st Rescue Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, Ga. He prepared for two years to become a part of the CSAR community.

This job takes a special kind of person, said the Myrtle Point, Ore., native said. "Nobody is here who doesn't want to be."