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Pennsylvania Guardsmen carry fight back to Afghanistan

  • Published
  • By Maj. Damien Pickart
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
MANAS AIR BASE, KYRGYZ REPUBLIC --  Seven years after United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into an empty field 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, Penn., a group of nearly 120 Air National Guardsmen from Pittsburgh's 171st Air Refueling Wing are helping carry the fight back to its origins in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan.

For servicemembers fighting there, including Pennsylvania Army Guardsmen, the safety net of air cover overhead can not be maintained without round-the-clock air refueling missions the 171st ARW is helping to provide to aircraft like the A-10 Warthogs out of Willow Grove, Penn. The 171st ARW is but one part of more than 1,000 Pennsylvania Guardsmen deployed in support of the Global War on Terror; the largest activation of the state's National Guard since WWII.

Since the first week of September, maintainers, aircrew and a host of other support personnel from the 171st ARW have contributed their four KC-135 refueling tankers to the daily armada of aircraft supporting operations on the dangerous battlefields below.

"We are the first planned ANG unit to serve here as a part of the effort to integrate Active Duty and ANG air refueling operations at Manas Air Base," said Capt. John McCullough, an eight-year KC-135 pilot from Pittsburgh. "We fly each other's aircraft and even mix our aircrews for missions. It's been working well and we're glad to be able to help keep the guys safe on the ground."

Along with nearly 1,000 other coalition servicemembers serving at the Central Asian air base, these Pennsylvania Guardsmen voluntarily gave up time with their families, their daily routines and the comforts of home to deploy here and support a greater cause.

As the premier air mobility and refueling hub supporting operations in Afghanistan, the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing's KC-135 fleet is integral in the fight to defeat the threat of terrorism that originated there, including the Pittsburgh natives who remember how the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks touched so close to home that day.

"9/11 was right in our backyards," said Capt. David Cornetta, a traditional Guardsman with the 171st ARW and a nine-year Pennsylvania State Trooper. "I remember being at the base that day and how we were put on high alert after the attacks. All of us remember why we've come here and what our purpose is. When I arrived, I recall the wing commander briefing us about how this place was stood up in response to the 9/11 attacks and it gave me chills."

The deployment is the unit's first to Manas, which was originally named Ganci Air Base in honor of New York City's fire chief, Peter Ganci Jr., who was killed leading his department's efforts at the World Trade Center. Several of the Pennsylvania Guardsmen attended the wing's Sept. 11 remembrance ceremony shortly after arriving.

Manas AB is the first combat air refueling wing to mix ANG and Active Duty air refueling assets and personnel. Hundreds of Airmen and nearly a dozen KC-135s from Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., have deployed here repeatedly for four month intervals since the base stood up in December 2001. To lessen the operations tempo and time they spend away from home, a plan was recently implemented to augment the wing's operations with ANG units. Pittsburgh's tankers and Airmen were selected as the first scheduled unit. In the interim, ANG units from Iowa, Utah and nearly ten other states filled in until the Air Expeditionary Force 5/6 cycle started Sept. 1.

"It's been working really well and we're learning a lot from each other," said Chief Master Sgt. Ben Shinsky, superintendent of KC-135 maintenance operations. "The Guard and Active Duty maintainers complement one another. It's great to see one of our 20-year engine guys sharing his wealth of experience with some younger Active Duty mechanic who in turn shares with him some new techniques or procedures we may not be familiar with."

The relationship that has developed between Fairchild AFB and the 171st ARW has also been a reunion of sorts for some. Two Fairchild deployers, Capt. David Schuster, a KC-135 pilot, and KC-135 refueling boom operator Senior Airman Leighann Ray (formerly Mills) are both Pittsburgh area natives now serving on Active Duty and deployed alongside their fellow Pittsburgh neighbors. Staff Sgt. John Henn was recently looking through some pictures taken here and recognized a face.

"I saw Senior Airman Ray's picture and couldn't believe I was deployed with a fellow high school classmate," said Sergeant Henn, an aircrew life support technician from Pittsburgh. "We both graduated Shaler Area High School in 2004 and now we're here serving together; one Active Duty, one Guard - same hometown, same fight."

That fight is being waged by families as well. A common feature in Guard units is the number of members that often hail from the same family and the Pittsburgh unit is no different.

The Shinsky family from Cecil, Penn., will have sent four family members to the fight by the time the wing's deployment here ends in early November. Chief Shinsky oversees a complex maintenance effort by over a hundred Airmen to fix and repair the nearly 50-year-old aircraft. Somewhere in that daily effort labors his son, Staff Sgt. Ben Shinsky Jr., a crew chief on the venerable air refueler.

"I didn't know where Kyrgyzstan was on the map before I came, but really I like it here," said Sergeant Shinsky. "The pace is a lot faster than back home, but it really makes time fly and what we support here is great."

As soon as Sergeant Shinsky departs, his uncle and younger brother will arrive as a part of second group of Pittsburgh Guardsmen who will support the latter half of the unit's deployment through November.

While Guard and Active Duty maintainers prepare more than a dozen KC-135s for missions in support of the daily air tasking order, aircrew plan six to eight hour flights while discussing news from home.

The missions flown from Manas carry their aircrew and precious cargo of fuel hundreds of miles south and high above the hinterlands of Afghanistan, where troops on the ground often find themselves engaged with the enemy. Many of these encounters result in requests for air support, which in turn depends on the fuel from Manas AB's KC-135s to keep them airborne and able to support the action for longer periods of time.

On one recent, yet remarkable mission in early September, a Pennsylvania ANG crew found themselves passing gas to A-10 Warthogs deployed from their neighbor Guardsmen in Willow Grove, Penn., who were in turn providing air support for Pennsylvania Army Guardsmen on the ground engaged in a firefight. The mission epitomized the "joint" nature of modern combat and truly illustrated Pennsylvanians helping one another out.

"We know we're making a difference to those on the ground who might be in a hairy situation," said Lt. Col. Jeff McKee, a 171st ARW pilot. "That mission, which we've repeated several times, hit a little closer to home because those guys were fellow neighbors from Pennsylvania."

Back in Pittsburgh and across Pennsylvania, front yard trees and picture windows continue to sport yellow ribbons and blue stars; a reminder to neighbors, families and the passer by of the sacrifices their loved ones are continuing to make as they carry on the fight that began in their backyards seven years earlier.

"We're making the most of our time here and making a difference in this effort," said Tech. Sgt. Michele Mersing, a Pittsburgh native serving as the 22nd Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron's Host Aviation Resource Manager. "We might be a long way from home, but we're a pretty tight family. We make a point to look out for one another."