TheState.com: S.C. at War

More Shaw pilots to deploy

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:25 EST

SUMTER - After years of staying home while wars raged in Iraq and Afghanistan, F-16 fighter squadrons at Shaw Air Force Base are getting back into the fight.

Two of the Sumter base's three squadrons are preparing to deploy airmen and jets to Iraq starting in January. Shaw's other squadron, the 79th, has been at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan since October.

The surge in deployments contrasts sharply with a 5 1/2-year span between the spring of 2003 and fall 2008 when Shaw's fighters remained stateside.

During that time, Shaw's airmen were not idle, said Col. Ken Craib, deputy director of operations for the Air Forces Central Command, headquartered here.

"I think it's important to understand that the 20th Fighter Wing has been fighting the war from here," Craib said Tuesday.

Guard unit home from war

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:00 EST

A helicopter unit from the S.C. National Guard returned home Thursday to hugs, cheers and backslaps after a historic, yearlong mission to Afghanistan.

Sixty-eight soldiers of Company B, 2nd Battalion, 238th Aviation Regiment were greeted by flag-waving friends and families after their chartered flight landed at McEntire Joint National Guard Base near Eastover.

The detachment, which flies twin-rotor CH-47 transport helicopters, made history by being the first Army aviation unit to go from conception to combat in three years, Guard leaders said.

The mission was challenging, the unit's commander, Capt. Rob Rozetar said. Once the unit arrived in Afghanistan, it was split into three sections with soldiers dispatched to bases in eastern and southern Afghanistan.

"It really stretched us thin," said Rozetar, a Clemson University graduate from Pottsville, Pa.

Security, water would win war overnight

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:38 EDT

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - Although he graduated from the Air Force Academy and has a master's degree from Harvard, Brig. Gen. Steve Kwast likes to think he has a lot in common with people who live outside this sprawling base.

Kwast, commander of the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, grew up in Africa, where his parents were missionaries. He knows what it's like to hike an hour to the next village or fear anyone from the outside.

With that background, Kwast offers what some would consider an unconventional view of how the United States and its allies can win the war in Afghanistan.

Kwast tries to see the issues from the point of view of the Afghan farmer or village elder - many of whom he has met since he arrived here in April.

Those people are the key, Kwast says, adding U.S. and NATO leaders - now reconsidering coalition strategy in Afghanistan - should consult them in mapping a way to victory.

Shaw unit fighting small war

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:38 EDT

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - For years, the F-16 Fighting Falcons at Sumter's Shaw Air Force Base have trained to search out and destroy enemy missile and anti-aircraft artillery sites.

"That's the big war," as Lt. Col. Ken Ekman, a Shaw squadron commander, put it recently.

Now, Ekman and his S.C.-based unit - the 79th Fighter Squadron - are here, fighting a small war where they may be called on to fly close-air support for a donkey train carrying election ballots to a mountain village.

With U.S. and coalition air forces reigning supreme in the skies over Afghanistan, Shaw's airmen have had to adapt their sleek, swept-wing planes to fight an irregular war.

Instead of hunting down enemy missile sites, the pilots use the multi-million-dollar electronic gear aboard their planes to find bombs buried in a roadbed or enemy fighters hiding behind rocks.

Still a pulse? Still a chance

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:35 EDT

BAGRAM AIRFIELD - Maj. Alan Todd is no stranger to what can happen on the battlefield.

For three years, Todd worked at the military hospital in Germany that treated wounded troops brought out of Afghanistan and Iraq by U.S. planes, including the C-17s based at Charleston Air Force Base.

But, a month ago, the Charleston native deployed to Craig Joint Theater Hospital here.

At the Bagram Airfield hospital, the wounded are brought in wearing their bloodied and torn uniforms, not the clean gowns and pajamas Todd's patients wore in Germany.

Medics' field dressings cover wounds as tourniquets keep blood from gushing from torn arms and legs. The acrid smell of gunpowder and the stench of sweat and grime permeates every thread of the wounded troops' uniforms.

Air power can reach any outpost

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:35 EDT

Above western Afghanistan's golden brown mounds of sand and rock, Capt. Brian Moynihan pulls up slightly the nose of the C-130 transport plane he's piloting.

Then, from the 40-foot-long cargo hold where a U.S. flag hangs from the bulwark, 16 pallets loaded with food and water, wrapped in dark green nylon, roll out the back door. The pallets, suspended from 26-foot-wide parachutes, float down to waiting U.S. troops.

It's here - aboard Flight Torque 48 - that the 7,500-mile-long lifeline from Charleston Air Force Base to Afghanistan ends.

In a country with goat paths for roads and dominated by a tortuous, forbidding mountain range, the quickest and safest way to get food, water and ammo to the troops is by air.

That makes air power a game-changer in Afghanistan.

McEntire chopper unit's yearlong tour ending

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:35 EDT

Complete coverage of South Carolina at War

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- Thoughts of returning home to loved ones and Saturdays filled with college football are on the minds of some of the 60 S.C. National Guard soldiers serving in an Army helicopter unit in Afghanistan.

The troops, members of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter unit based at McEntire Joint National Guard Base, are just weeks away from the end of a yearlong deployment.

"The money's good, but I just want to get back home and be with my wife," said Staff Sgt. Paul Peek of Eastover, an aircraft maintainer.

Peek and his fellow soldiers are writing an important chapter in Army history: They are members of the first Chinook helicopter unit to be organized, staffed and deployed to a combat zone in less than three years.

Sharp eyes, tense days at the gates

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:35 EDT

Every day, thousands of Afghan men and hundreds of trucks and cars stop at the gates of this sprawling base in northeastern Afghanistan.

Each man and vehicle then goes through a series of searches before entering the compound, where 20,000 U.S. service members are stationed.

The job of making sure Bagram's defenses aren't breached - and those service members' lives aren't endangered - falls to Lt. Col. James Lowe of Shaw Air Force Base, commander of the 455th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron.

Several hundred airmen make up Lowe's security squadron, the largest of its kind in Afghanistan.

Airmen man the base's watch towers, patrol its 11 1/2-mile perimeter road and keep an eye out for anyone trying to sneak in with a gun or a bomb strapped to his chest.

Bagram Airfield keeps growing

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:35 EDT

Seven days a week, concrete trucks rumble along the dusty perimeter road of this air base as bulldozers and backhoes reshape the rocky earth.

Hundreds of laborers slap mortar onto bricks as they build barracks and offices. Four concrete plants on the base have operated around the clock for 18 months to keep up with the construction needs.

Official U.S. policy is not to create a permanent occupation force in Afghanistan. But it is clear from what's happening at Bagram Airfield - the Afghan end of the Charleston-to-Afghanistan lifeline - that the U.S. military won't be packing up soon.

More than $200 million in construction projects - from dormitories to cargo-handling yards - either are under way or planned on just the Air Force side of the base.

Millions more will be spent by the U.S. Army on streets, roads, sewers and a wastewater treatment plant.

S.C. air base is crucial to Afghan war

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:35 EDT

The C-5A transport's four engines let out a collective groan as the gigantic plane lifted off the runway and climbed into the evening sky, hugging the S.C. coastline.

Inside the plane's cavernous cargo - strapped to its steel deck - were two vehicle simulators, designed to teach U.S. troops how to survive rollover crashes, and pallets of food and water.

In less than 24 hours, the cargo would reach Afghanistan for distribution to remote U.S. bases on the country's desert floor and rocky cliffs.

For eight years, Charleston has been a starting point for the 7,500-mile-long air bridge to the Afghan war.

Eleven times a day, on average, Air Force C-5 and C-17 military transport aircraft take off from Charleston for Afghanistan.

Report from Afghanistan: Marine says Taliban are real fighters

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:08 EDT

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — After serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, Marine Lance Cpl. James Yon says there’s no comparison in the willingness of America’s two enemies to fight.

“I have respect for them,” the 28-year-old Rock Hill native said of Afghanistan’s Taliban. “They actually do stand toe-to-toe with you.”

By contrast, insurgent forces in Iraq prefer impersonal roadside bombs, said Yon, who was deployed to that country less than two years ago.

Yon’s Marine unit is part of an overall surge in U.S. forces here. The United States and its NATO allies are trying to reverse three years of gains by Taliban fighters. The allied troops are trying to secure a country as big as Texas that has been at war for three decades.

About 38,000 NATO troops are in Afghanistan. An additional 47,000 U.S. troops are in the country, a number expected to reach 68,000 by year-end. And the U.S. commander is expected to request even more troops. That request, however, is in limbo as the Obama administration reviews U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.

Family eagerly awaits Marine’s return

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:42 EDT

ROCK HILL — When Larry Yon’s phone rang last week and the caller ID flashed the words “Quantico Marines,” he knew the news wouldn’t be good.

Yon learned his son, Marine Lance Cpl. James Yon, had been injured in Afghanistan when an explosion rocked his patrol convoy. He was deafened by the blast, the only reported injury in the incident.

James Yon is recovering in a hospital in Germany, his Rock Hill family said, and has regained hearing in his left ear. Doctors expect hearing in his right ear to improve over time.

Larry and Mary Yon are relieved, but anxious for December, when their son is expected to return home to visit.

“He’s my hero,” Larry Yon said. “He doesn’t like it when I say that.”

Long Army deployments still a major concern

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:01 EDT

As the Army's senior enlisted soldier, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth Preston said, questions about long deployments dominate his conversations with soldiers.

"That, by far, has been the biggest question for several years," Preston said.

He hopes the answer is more troops.

Preston spent Tuesday at Fort Jackson. He attended a ceremony in which Command Sgt. Maj. Teresa King became the first woman to lead the Army's school for drill sergeants. He also was the featured speaker for the Lt. Gen. Timothy J. Maude Leadership Lecture Series, which is hosted by the post's Adjutant General School.

Maude, the series' namesake, was serving as deputy chief of staff for personnel when he was killed during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the Pentagon. His family established the Maude Foundation to promote soldiers' education.

Fort Jackson trained 280,000 since 9/11

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 01:30 EDT

Almost to the hour eight years after terrorists crashed passenger jets into the World Trade Center, 760 soldiers on Friday graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson.

Within a year, about 80 percent of the new troops will head to Afghanistan or Iraq, following the footsteps of thousands of others who have fought America’s two wars since Sept. 11, 2001.

“We’ve got folks willing to put on this uniform ... and are willing to make the necessary sacrifice in order to preserve what we treasure the most, and that’s our freedom and our way of life,” Fort Jackson commander Brig. Gen. Bradley May told a group of graduates after the morning’s ceremony at Hilton Field.

Since 9/11, an estimated 280,000 volunteers have graduated from basic training at Fort Jackson and have entered the active-duty Army, Reserve and Army National Guard. Overall, about 800,000 men and women have joined the Army since 2001.

“It’s absolutely extraordinary that these soldiers have such a desire to serve this nation,” said Lt. Col. Dan Beatty, commander of the training battalion that produced Friday’s new troops.

Marine from Gaffney dies of war wounds

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 22:17 EDT

A 20-year-old Marine from Gaffney has died of wounds suffered while fighting in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Friday.

Lance Cpl. Chris Fowlkes was injured Sept. 3 in Helmand province and died Thursday morning at the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. His parents, Steve and Donna Fowlkes, were at his bedside, according to reports.

“Chris fought a long, hard battle and is a true American hero,” the family said in a statement published in the Spartanburg Herald Journal. “We are a family of deep faith, and through our pain and loss we are steadfast in God’s love and plans.”

Fowlkes was injured when he and four other troops got out of their vehicle after coming under attack. One of the troops stepped on a land mine. Another Marine and Navy corpsman also died in the attack.

Fowlkes, who had fought in Iraq, was assigned to the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Soldier training at Fort Jackson dies

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 22:17 EDT

For the second time in less than month, a soldier training at Fort Jackson has died.

Spc. Christopher Hogg, 23, died at about 9 p.m. Thursday from what “was initially diagnosed as pneumonia,” the Army reported Friday.

Hogg, of Deltona, Fla., was admitted Sept. 3 at Palmetto Health Richland with a fever and respiratory problems, the Army added. No autopsy is planned.

Hogg was in his fifth week of training and was set to graduate Oct. 15. He was a member of D Company, 3rd Battalion 13th Infantry Regiment.

On Aug. 20, Pvt. Jonathan Morales, 18, of Milwaukee, died from apparent heatstroke while participating in a foot march just days before he was to graduate from basic training.

2 wars weigh on S.C families

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:29 EDT

America’s two wars since the 9/11 terrorist attacks — eight years ago today — have stressed the lives of thousands of S.C. military families, straining marriages and hurting children.

These issues pile on top of the personal struggles of many once-deployed service members, still mending from physical and psychological wounds.

“Families are hurting; the soldiers are hurting,” said Lt. Col. Clarence Bowser, director of the S.C. National Guard’s Family Services Program. “We’re asking more of the same people — to go again and make a sacrifice — and that affects the family even more.”

To address the problem, the Pentagon has put together a bevy of services designed to help troops, spouses and children.

The programs, provided by the Defense Department through the S.C. National Guard, were created in the wake of a number of studies that found deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq were tearing at the fabric of family life.

Fort Jackson prep school gives soldiers a second chance

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:59 EDT

At 19, Brian May was making $60,000 a year at a wood mill near his home in Mount Vernon, Wash., but then the economy tanked.

So May, who was married and the father of a small boy, joined the Army. There was a problem: May didn’t have a high school diploma or GED certificate.

At one time, people like Pvt. May would have been out of luck. But May landed in a program at Fort Jackson aimed at helping recruits earn a GED, which stands for General Educational Development.

Commanders label the program, called the Army Preparatory School, a “win-win” for the Army and for soldiers.

The Army can enlist recruits who meet all the standards but one — a diploma or GED. Soldiers get a second chance at a better life.

Heat stroke blamed for soldier’s death

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:12 EDT

A Fort Jackson soldier who died Thursday morning after a Wednesday evening training exercise likely died of complications from heat stroke, Richland County’s coroner said Friday.

Jonathan Morales, 18, of Milwaukee, was finishing up a group training run and began falling behind, Coroner Gary Watts said. His supervisor noticed he seemed unsteady on his feet and had him sit in the back of a truck to finish the exercise.

“At some point, he fell out of the truck and suffered a head injury,” Watts added.

Watts has ruled the cause of death was heat stroke.

Morales had been in the Army less than 10 weeks.

Air Force wants to prove it’s ‘all in’ the Middle East conflicts

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 23:39 EDT

SUMTER — Perception, more than reality, is driving the Air Force’s decision to temporarily move his command headquarters to the Middle East, Lt. Gen. Gilmary Hostage III said Thursday.

Meeting with reporters shortly before starting a journey that will take him to his new home in the Persian Gulf region, Hostage said his bosses want to show the other services that the Air Force is “all in” fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“It’s not a reflection on the job we’re doing,” said the 54-year-old three-star leader. “It’s a reflection on the perception. Quite frankly, it’s really more of a perception in Washington.”

Hostage is commander of the Air Forces Central Command, which oversees air operations in the 20-nation U.S. Central Command region that includes Iraq and Afghanistan.

For years, the unit was a component of the 9th Air Force headquarters at Shaw, which also is responsible for six state-side wings, and 14 Reserve and Air National Guard units.

S.C. troops will serve in Kosovo

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:27 EDT

About 60 S.C. Army National Guard soldiers were mobilized Friday to support NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.

The troops, members of 2nd Battalion, 151st Aviation Regiment, are based at McEntire Joint National Guard Base near Eastover.

The South Carolinians will be joined by guardsmen from Kentucky and Virginia to form an aviation task force that will transport troops and gear in the Kosovo region, said Lt. Col. Wallace Bonds, the commander.

The S.C. unit will provide command and control for the task force, said Bonds, of Isle of Palms.

The S.C. troops will spend about two months at Camp Attebury, Ind., training for their mission, and another month in Germany, Bonds said. They’ll serve in Kosovo for nine months, he added.

Price of sewer

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:27 EDT

A new sewer plant in Cayce will allow for the construction of new homes and businesses in a growing portion of Lexington County. Financing arrangements call for the towns of Lexington and Cayce to share expenses with the county’s water and sewer commission. But customers already are paying for part of the $60 million facility.

Costs

Town of Lexington: Contributing about $30 million and will own 49 percent of the plant’s 25-million-gallons-daily capacity

City of Cayce: Contributing about $22 million and will own 33 percent of capacity

Joint Water and Sewer Commission (largely serving the Red Bank area) : Contributing about $10.5 million and will own 18 percent of capacity

Shaw will retain status, Air Force chief says

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 02:15 EDT

SUMTER — The Air Force’s top leader on Wednesday sought to tamp down concerns of state and local leaders that sending a three-star general and his staff from Shaw Air Force Base to the Middle East will diminish the installation’s standing.

Air Force chief Gen. Norton Schwartz issued his remarks shortly after U.S. Central Command chief Gen. David Petraeus attended a ceremony at Shaw, making the move official.

In a statement, Schwartz used the words “temporary” and “temporarily” to describe the decision to separate 9th Air Force, headquartered at Shaw, and its component, U.S. Air Forces Central. The separation will last until the air war winds down, he said.

“We understand. It’s one of those things that’s necessary,” said Tom Olsen, a former Shaw commander and executive director of the Sumter Base Defense Committee.

Air Force activity in the Gulf region “is as high as it’s ever been and as our commitments accelerate in Afghanistan, we need 100 percent focus,” Schwartz said.

Change might impact Shaw

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:59 EDT

The role of 9th Air Force headquarters at Shaw Air Force Base will change today when the job of running air campaigns over Iraq and Afghanistan is handed over to a new unit.

As part of the Air Force’s reshuffling, 9th Air Force commander Lt. Gen. Gary North’s job will be split, with a two-star general handling stateside chores and a three-star general overseeing the air war.

Local and state officials wonder if the move could impact Shaw’s future as home to 3rd Army headquarters and 1,700 soldiers who are to arrive in Sumter by the fall of 2011.

That’s because a component of the 3rd Army — Army Central Command — is responsible for ground operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

When the move was ordered by the 2005 Base Relocation and Closure Commission, officials thought having the Army unit at Shaw would enable commanders from both services to work and live alongside each other.

Mental health in the military

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:50 EDT

Aiming to stem a rising suicide rate among troops, the Army’s top general said Thursday during a visit to Fort Jackson that the service will launch a training program in October to teach soldiers how to better handle combat stress.

The program has been in the works for some months and soldiers at Fort Jackson, the Army’s largest basic training center, have participated in a pilot program over the summer, Gen. George Casey said.

Now the Army is ready to expand the program and teach it at every school from basic training to the Army War College, Casey said.

“Because the treadmill that we’ve been on as an Army for the last eight years and likely will be on for some years to come is such, if we don’t give soldiers these skills we’re just going to have increasing challenges,” Casey said during a news conference at the end of a two-day stay in Columbia.

On Wednesday night, Casey was the guest of honor at a reception hosted by the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce.

Some new troops will train at Ft. Jackson

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:22 EDT

Although the Army plans to increase its strength by 22,000 troops over the next three years, no decision has been made about how many additional recruits might train at Fort Jackson.

Whatever the decision, Fort Jackson probably won’t need to add more personnel or units to handle the additional recruits, said Col. Kevin Shwedo, deputy commander.

“I think that right now we are manned and structured well enough to handle the flow,” Shwedo said Thursday.

The Army plans to increase the number of active-duty soldiers to 569,000 from the current level of 547,000. Adding 22,000 troops to the Army’s payroll “will be achieved by both recruiting and retention,” said Douglas Smith, spokesman for the Army’s Recruiting Command.

Having more troops will help relieve some of the pressure and stress that multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan have had on soldiers, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said.

Soldiers’ stopover gets USO status

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:50 EDT

The USO will open a new center at Columbia Metropolitan Airport for military travelers and their families this fall, the organization announced Wednesday.

The center will serve more than 146,000 service personnel and their families, the organization said. It will move into the 1,200-square-foot Armed Forces Lounge, which opened in late April.

“We were delighted to find out this morning that the lounge has been given USO status,” said Ike McLeese, president of the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber’s Military Affairs Committee worked with the Airport Authority and local military and city officials to open the lounge and recruit the USO.

The United Services Organization operates 135 centers worldwide and is readily recognized by members of the U.S. military, supporters said.

Going to college in a combat zone

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:18 EDT

When Sgt. 1st Class Rodney Varner’s workday ended he went to college, taking classes in religion, math, environmental science and persuasive writing.

But Varner never set foot on campus. Instead, he turned on his laptop computer and connected to the Internet from a military base in Afghanistan.

Taking advantage of the Army’s online education program, Varner is just one of thousands of soldiers who have pursued degrees while serving in combat zones and bases around the world.

After just three years, the program called GoArmyEd now serves 96,000 troops enrolled in some 200,000 courses taught by 145 accredited colleges and universities, including the University of South Carolina and Midlands Technical College.

“Our students today are virtual,” said Shirley O’Neal, education director at Columbia’s Fort Jackson, the Army’s largest basic combat training center.

Military kids learn lessons about commerce

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:33 EDT

About 20 teens gathered in a classroom at Fort Jackson, learning such business lingo as overhead, costs and unit price.

“Remember,” said class instructor Paul Smith, “the selling price should always exceed the total cost of goods sold. Otherwise, you’re losing money.”

And so it went last week at Camp Eagle ‘09, a four-day program aimed at showing 11- to 17-year-olds how to realize their dreams of being an entrepreneur.

But the camp wasn’t a public-school business class or Junior Achievement event. Instead, it was a program of Operation: Military Kids, aimed at providing activities for children whose parents are in the active-duty Army, National Guard and Reserve.

Sponsored by the Defense Department and coordinated by the Clemson University Extension Service’s 4-H program, the operation is new this summer in South Carolina. Nationally, all but one state - New Mexico - have adopted the program, which the Army launched in April 2005.

Afghanistan: Where heat is the worst enemy

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 00:53 EDT

About 4,000 Marines who are trying to drive the Taliban out of southern Afghanistan face a long, hot summer, say two members of a South Carolina National Guard unit that spent a year in the area tangling with insurgent forces.

At the same time, the soldiers said they are not surprised the Marines’ Task Force Leatherneck has not met much resistance from the Taliban since beginning the operation just before the July 4th weekend.

“The Taliban knew the reputation of the Marines, and the size of the force they were bringing. They’re not stupid,” said Lt. Col. Bill Connor of Orangeburg, who served with the Guard’s 218th Brigade Combat Team during its yearlong tour in Afghanistan in 2007-08.

The Taliban prefer to attack “soft” targets — police officers and civilians — instead of well-armed military forces, said Capt. Dylan Goff, who mentored Afghan police units in southern Helmand province, where the Marine offensive is under way.

“We spent half the year looking for a fight,” said Goff of Columbia. “As a general rule, they don’t like to fight Americans.”