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Kirkuk Airmen train Iraqis to train Iraqis

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. J.G. Buzanowski
  • AFCENT Combat Camera Team
KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq --  Lt. Col. Chris Spigelmire has defined success in Iraq, "The better we do our jobs, the fewer people they'll send to replace us until we don't have to be here at all.

"The trick is," he added, "the Iraqi air force has to be able to do what we're doing without us around."

Colonel Spigelmire, deployed from Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, commands the 521st Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron. He and his two dozen Airmen have two missions:

- Help Iraqis train their new pilot corps
- Prepare qualified Iraqi pilots to assume mission operations

More than 35 pilots are currently in flight training.

"We're also training the trainers so Iraqis learn from Iraqis," Colonel Spigelmire said.

On the operations side, Iraqis are learning how to fly intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance gathering taskings. Leaders at the air operations center are already using the information from these missions in other operations, said Capt. John Ginn, an instructor pilot deployed from McGuire AFB, N.J.

"These pilots are the future of the Iraqi air force," the captain said. "We're actually about a year ahead of schedule for getting them trained enough to take over many duties Americans have had here. For example, their flight commander is an Iraqi pilot instead of one of us. They're also taking requests from other units, who want ISR, and then planning and executing much of the missions on their own."

The 521st Airmen train Iraqis on two airframes in two squadrons. At Squadron 1, the Cessna 172 and Cessna 208 are for flying training. In Squadron 3, their Cessna 208s have two configurations; the RC-208, outfitted for ISR missions and the AC-208, outfitted for ISR and/or kinetic strike with the AGM-114 Helllfire missile. Squadron 3 fired their first Hellfire on Nov. 4.

"The Iraqi air force now has the strike capability needed for them to help protect their sovereign nation," Colonel Spigelmire said. "They're able to project air power on their own for the first time in years. It's a giant step for their military and their country."

Tech. Sgt. Patrick Baker, previously a crew member on the E-3 Sentry, has been in Iraq for the last year teaching the Iraqis to use the special sensor equipment on the Cessna 208s. But when Sergeant Baker, deployed from Tinker AFB, Okla., goes home, he won't be replaced.

"There are four qualified instructors and two evaluators, so they don't need me," Sergeant Baker said. "They've got the skills they need to train their own mission system operators now. Thanks to the NCOs before me, I can proudly say that I'm going home with this mission complete."

The Squadron 1 director of operations, an Iraqi colonel, is equally proud of the Iraqi pilots and the partnership they've forged with their American allies.

"Here we all work as a team," the colonel said. "My students are like my sons and they are better pilots after working with the Americans. I'm very honored to work with the United States Air Force. They helped us do the right thing for Iraq."