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Airman volunteers for 18-month deployment to assist Iraq

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Ruth Curfman
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
CAMP TAJI, Iraq --  An Air Force major will return to the United States from Iraq -- more than a year after he expected to be home, but for him, it was time well spent assisting Iraqi personnel to fly, fight and defeat terrorism and establish a secure environment and air sovereignty.

Maj. Jiro McCoy, 770th Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron, Mi-17 [multi-role helicopter] commander of advisers, voluntarily deployed for more than 18 months on what was supposed to be a six-month deployment and is on his way home to Fort Rucker, Ala.

"I had certain expectations regarding our mission here," said Major McCoy, who is originally from Jackson Hole, Wyo. "There were goals and objectives I wanted to see the Iraqis achieve, so I extended for six months twice. Now that I have seen the progress that they have made, especially in the tactical employment of the helicopters needed for this combat zone, I feel comfortable leaving."

The 770th AEAS, is responsible for training, advising and assisting Iraqi Air Force members at Taji Air Force Base. The Iraqi Air Force base consists of four helicopter squadrons, a developing maintenance group, and the beginning stages of a mission support group.

"We have been tasked by the 370th Air Expeditionary Advisory Group, which is overseen by the Coalition Air Force Training Team in Iraq, to assess, advise, educate, train and assist the IAF helicopter wing personnel on providing counter insurgency operations via air support," the major said. "This process will help us to transition the security of this country back to the Iraqis by providing them the tools to develop operations, maintenance and support capabilities through the establishment of self-sustaining training programs."

These programs, which offer training of air crew, maintenance, logistics and support personnel, do not come without obstacles.

"One of the biggest challenges we face is the language barrier," Major McCoy said. "This is especially important when we are trying to train the IAF students how to fly and we are using English-speaking air traffic control."

Although the language barrier requires more creative ways of communicating, the major has experienced these challenges before.

"I was previously deployed here with the first team to come to Taji in March 2005," he said. "At that time, this idea was in its infancy and we were the first advisory team to arrive. Our first task was to find a way to organize the IAF in order to allow them to operate more like a wing."

At the time, however, they had to rely on books and electronic presentations.

"Once we were able to actually provide visual, hands-on demonstrations, the Iraqi's morale and motivation increased substantially," the major said. "We were able to take everything we discussed and show them how to put our theories into action. The IAF personnel are very interested in learning from us, but they are a visual culture and their strengths lie in being able to actually carry out the actions, as opposed to just talking about it."

The major proved to be instrumental in getting the Iraqi pilots back in the air and performing missions in support of maintaining the country's national sovereignty.

"When Major McCoy first arrived here, they had no aircraft and were not flying at all," said Lt. Col. Mark Daley, 770th AEAS commander, deployed from Andrews Air Force Base, Md. "He took them from zero flying missions to having four squadrons that are flying daily combat missions in Iraq with three different types of helicopters."

Although many of the Iraqi pilots came to the squadron with many years of experience as pilots from Saddam's military, there was still quite a bit of training that had to take place for them to fly in the complex coalition airspace.

"They definitely have the flying expertise in the MI-17s and they end up teaching us a lot about that particular aircraft," Major McCoy said. "However, we are training them to operate in an environment that is English-language centric and much more complex than anything they've flown in the past. We are also teaching them tactics ofr employing helicopters in a counter insurgency role."

In addition to training the IAF personnel on aircraft maneuvers, the trainers work on having a more personal relationship with the trainees.

"Major McCoy has become a close personal friend and confidant to just about every Iraqi AF member on Taji base," Colonel Daley said. "The time he has taken to build personal relationships has given him the trust of the Iraqis here and the ability to help them build an effective rotary wing force."

This mission is not only important to the major, but to the Iraqi military as well.

"Rotary wing capability is critical to transporting people and supplies quickly and safely throughout the country and enabling security personnel to move more rapidly around the country to pre-empt or respond to security problems," Colonel Daley said. "Once this wing is fully operational, the IAF squadrons will be able to provide the government of Iraq the flexibility and functionality it needs to maintain its own internal security."

However, this mission would be more difficult if the squadrons did not share the relationships on a personal level.

"We spend a lot of time just talking or drinking chai with our Iraqi counterparts, which ultimately helps us to better understand each other and the differences between our cultures," the major said. "This also allows us to establish a rapport that ultimately transfers over to our training areas and is instrumental in being able to communicate our ideas better, regardless of the language barriers."

Although the language barrier is difficult to work with, somehow Major McCoy has been able to relate with the Iraqis on a common middle ground.

"Major McCoy is the epitome of a great adviser," Colonel Daley said. "He understands that in order to be a good adviser, you have to become a part of the organization you are advising. Major McCoy has been most influential by building trust and having the ability to influence by showing he truly cares and empathizes with their situation."

However, the major has also been affected personally by this deployment.

"To be a part of such a unique and important mission has been challenging and especially rewarding," Major McCoy said. "Knowing I was able to help to teach a foreign country how to increase their defense capabilities is a great feeling. I believe I have gotten them far enough along and now it's time to go back, regroup and possibly come back at a later date. But I leave here knowing the Iraqi aircrew are able to do it on their own so we have achieved our goal."