Aviano Air Base, Aviano, Italy – Part 2

I found myself back at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia for my second deployment in mid-2002 shortly before the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This would be the first and only time that I would repeat a base for a deployment. It seems that burying my boots in Boot Hill 4 years earlier didn’t work as it was supposed to! I would spend 147 days in Saudi Arabia during this deployment from August of 2002 to January of 2003.

Personnel landing at PSAB are immediately struck by the vastness of the place. If there is one thing that the Saudis have plenty of (besides oil) it would be flat real estate. The base was approximately 25 by 40 miles. Just the mention of the name can send shivers up and down the spine of anyone who has been threatened with a deployment here. The name Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia. It invokes thoughts of intense heat, dust, sand, and scorpions. You’re not in hell, but you sure can feel the heat from there. With 15 knots of wind, the daily 115-degree temperatures feels like you are in a giant hair dryer. Highs reach into the 110’s routinely. Those of us “lucky” enough to work outside for hours on end coped by drinking as much water as we could. Bottled water was available to everyone in mass quantities. To keep from dehydrating members of the 363rd Air Expeditionary Wing were told to drink a bottle of water every hour; one bottle equaling a half-liter. During periods of exercise or intense labor that amount was to be doubled.   Another problem to deal with was the sand. The country is, for the most part, completely covered in sand. When the wind picks up it takes the sand with it. Even when the wind isn’t blowing, the sand gets kicked into the air by walking, driving and other daily activities. This sand gets into everything! Other hazards we dealt with were the critters that make their home in the desert. The desert is home to such wildlife as scorpions, spiders, and snakes. Generally, all these creatures will leave humans alone unless they are cornered. This is the problem. The curious found themselves the victim of a nasty camel spider bite or worse. The camel spider is not deadly, but it is aggressive, and its bite is very painful. Almost all of the snakes that live in the region are venomous. Of note was the carpet viper. This snake was known to be seen in and about the living areas and workspaces. Again, this animal will run rather than fight but if cornered it will strike.

Back at home station in Italy, over a span of a few days in early March of 2003, Aviano Air Base was preparing for something big. I mean real big. Then, it started- March 26, a fleet of seventeen C-17s would start night one of five where they delivered more than 400 vehicles, more than 2,000 people, and more than 3,000 tons of equipment with 62 airlift missions. All arrived on time, all without mishap and with great precision. It was by any measure a landmark moment for airlift operations and the C-17 Globemaster III. The nighttime airdrop of troops and equipment behind enemy lines into northern Iraq was the largest combat airdrop since the invasion of Panama in December 1989 and a first for the C-17. I remember watching that first evening as 15 C-17s took off from this base in Northern Italy one after another, not knowing the scope of what just took place until they all landed some eight hours later. And then we were busy as can be! I was working in our control center. We had every fuel truck out, 25+ in total, at about 3am when the aircraft came back. Each aircraft was taking, on average, three trucks of fuel, totaling about 15,000 gallons of jet fuel. We were driving these big green refuelers everywhere on the ramp, in the grass, over the taxiways to get the mission done and get the aircraft ready to turn for nights two, three, four, and five. Though the nights following that first were with less and less aircraft, just seeing so many wide-body aircraft taking off one after another was an amazing sight.

One of the operations pilots recalled the following as he was in the lead aircraft of the formation of 15 C-17s that first night. As the jet taxied down the ramp, he says he looked out the window and noticed something amazing happening on the ramp at Aviano. Even though the air and ground crews tried to maintain a low-profile days before the launch, the base woke up that day to thousands of Army troops and 17 aircraft on the ramp. People knew something big was about to happen. “There were four airplanes behind me and 10 others lining up at the taxiway,” said Colonel Allardice. “To see this huge formation on the ground with people everywhere … there were people on the rooftops, lining the streets, with American flags waving. They understood something big was happening, and that they were part of some very large historic moment. This was so large and so many people had a part in this operation, they all felt they were part of it. That’s what you want. You want every Airman to know they are connected to the mission.” The operation, the largest airborne operation since 1989, constituted 62 missions, transporting 2,146 passengers and 2,433.7 tons of cargo.

One of my favorite parts about reminiscing about the different bases I have been at is looking into some of the major history of that location. Aviano played a great part in events that lead us to today. Our current Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General David Lee Goldfein could have been involved in a totally different outcome had it not been for Air Force Special Operations Airmen from this base in Northern Italy. David Lee Goldfein is a four-star general in the United States Air Force who currently serves as the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. Before, he served as Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force and was previously Director of the Joint Staff, a position within the Joint Chiefs of Staff who assists the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On April 26, 2016, it was announced that General Goldfein was nominated to succeed General Mark Welsh as the 21st Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. His confirmation hearing took place on June 16, and he succeeded Welsh on July 1st, two days after his confirmation.

As commander of the 555th Fighter Squadron at Aviano Air Base, then Lt. Col. David Goldfein led his squadron flying an F-16 fighter in Operation Allied Force. During that operation, on May 2nd, 1999, Goldfein’s F-16J was shot down over western Serbia by a S-125 surface-to-air missile fired by the 3rd Battery of the 250th Air Defense Missile Brigade of the Yugoslav Air Force. Shortly after midnight, Goldfein found himself in a small, unenviable club: He became just the second U.S. pilot in Operation Allied Force to be shot down. Col Goldfein successfully ejected and was subsequently rescued by NATO helicopters. In 2010, Goldfein said in an Air Force news release that he still stays in touch with the air crew. Each year, he sends them a bottle of fine single-malt Scotch liquor, and they save the last of it to drink together with Goldfein when he is able to meet and replace it with a new one. The only other manned aircraft shot down during the air war against Milosevic was an F-117 stealth fighter — the only one ever shot down in combat. It was hit with a missile on March 27, 1999. The pilot, Lt. Col. Dale Zelko, also survived and later befriended the man who shot his aircraft down.

I was promoted to Staff Sergeant on January 1st, 2002 and worked in distribution, storage and the control center during my time at in Italy. I volunteered to go to Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota under the Voluntary Stabilized Tour Program and departed for the frozen north in May of 2004. I would call Grand Forks, North Dakota home for the next five years. Our state tree was the telephone pole; the state bird was the vicious mosquito!! The journey continues…..

Aviano Air Base, Aviano, Italy – Part 1

We landed on a small base in the Italian Alps on May 22, 2000 – Alec’s second birthday for our European adventure that would last us the next four years. Aviano Air Base is the home of the 31st Fighter Wing and is the only U.S. fighter wing south of the Alps. This strategic location makes the wing critical to operations in NATO’s southern region. The 31st Fighter Wing maintains two F-16 fighter squadrons, the 555th Fighter Squadron and the 510th Fighter Squadron known as “The Triple Nickel” and “The Five and Dime” respectively, allowing the wing to conduct offensive and defensive combat air operations.

Aviano Air Base was established by the Italian government in 1911 and was used as training base for Italian pilots and construction facility for aircraft parts. During World War I, Italy used the airfield in missions against the Austro-Hungarian and German armies. At that time, two Italian aviators, Captain Maurizio Pagliano and Lieutenant Luigi Gori, conducted an unauthorized, but heroic and successful, air raid on the Austrian naval yards in Pula, in what is now Croatia. In their honor, the base’s name was officially changed to Aeroporto Pagliano e Gori, in 1919. During the war the airfield was also overrun by the Austro-German army in the months between November 1917 to November 1918. Between the two wars the airfield was again used as a training base. During World War II, both the Italian Air Force and the German Luftwaffe flew missions from Aeroporto Pagliano e Gori. British forces captured the base in 1945; they conducted air operations there until 1947, when the Italian Air Force resumed operational use of the airport.

I have many memories of Aviano. We lived in a small village called Fanna about a half an hour drive north of the base. The area itself sits in the middle of wine country, so you can only imagine the views of the mountains and the vineyards. I would love to visit the area again someday just to take the sights in. The base is located about an hour north of Venice, which became an unofficial weekend destination. It was so easy to get around the country and Europe as a whole. Trains were inexpensive and on time. Driving on the Autostrada was a dream. During this four-year period, we would find ourselves driving and riding trains to places like Rome, Pisa, Venice, Vicenza, and many other places all around Italy. We also traveled extensively to Austria and Germany. I even had the opportunity to take a “work trip” to England. We drove from Italy, through Austria, Germany, Belgium, into France where we boarded a ferry that took us from Calais, France across the Strait of Dover to England, home of the famed White Cliffs of Dover, driving north up towards Cambridge to Lakenheath Air Base, all in about 24 hours!

During this time, we met some great people. A family that I still keep in touch with today, some 14 years after leaving Italy, Sheldon and Rachael Smith are amazing people in their own right. Our families did so much together during our time there and I have visited them from time to time since and vice versa. We took a long weekend trip to Rome together where I nearly got pick-pocketed. I remember getting on the subway the first night there. At the time, much of Europe still was cash only, so I had nearly $1000 in my wallet that night, enough to last us the trip for food, trains, hotels, and souvenirs. It was a full subway car, so I didn’t think much of it when two young kids, no older than 10-12 boarded and was right up against me. The next stop, they departed and an Italian man immediately started pointing at the floor, “your wallet sir.” What I didn’t realize was that when one was pushing against me, the other lifted my wallet from my pocket, but luckily dropped it and wasn’t able to retrieve it as the subway car was so packed. The rest of the trip, the amount of money that I didn’t leave in the hotel safe stayed in my front pocket with my hand over it. Other than that it was a great trip. We visited the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, the Roman Pantheon, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Circus Maximus, St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel inside the Vatican, and ate so much good food! We got our crazy cab driver experience in Rome as well. There is so much more to see in Rome, but we only had 4 days; I would love to go back and spend more time there!

Sheldon and I would take trips up to Garmish, Germany for beer trips a couple times a year. He literally taught me what good beer truly was! It was also a Pizza Hut stop, something we didn’t have in Aviano…..ahhhhh the little things! We once went to a festival in Munich called Fruhlingsfest – sometimes called the “Kleine Schwester des Oktoberfestes,” meaning “Oktoberfest’s Little Sister.” It is held in the same venue as Oktoberfest, in the Theresienwiese Park. I remember staying in a hotel across the street from the park. We thought it would be a great place to stay during Oktoberfest a few months later; that is until we inquired about the price. If memory serves me, we stayed there during Fruhlingsfest for under 100 Euro, equivalent to about $90 at the time. They quoted us a price of over 400 Euro for the Oktoberfest time frame! So instead, our families rented a cabin in Garmish and took an hour’s train ride up to Munich to enjoy the festivities! The atmosphere was electric. People dancing on tables, a huge carnival, beer tents and gardens all around. People from all over the world drinking liters, and liters, and liters of beer! And you know what, no fights; could we do that in America? We ate, we sang silly German songs, and we drank! Memories…….

Melissa, Alec, and I went on some great trips as well. A weekend in Pisa, though the best part after the half hour that it took to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa(well maybe more like 5 minutes!) was camping at Camp Darby and going to the beach on the Mediterranean side of Italy. We also took a weekend trip up to Vienna, Austria where we got to see the world famous Lipizzaner horses at The Spanish Riding School of Vienna. Melissa did and still does love everything horses, so she loved this trip for that reason! Vienna seemed to be more of a modern city than any other place we visited in Europe. The only thing I could think of was because much of the country may have been leveled during World War II.

Thinking about World War II, we had a neighbor who spoke perfect English. His name was Remo; it was him and his dog, and this man was happy. He once told me, “You Americans, you live to work. We Italians, we work to live.” He lived a simple yet wonderful life. I heard he passed away a few years ago, but his memory will always be with me. He told me stories of Fanna during World War II when he was just a young boy. He says he remembers a time when a bomb hit the ground across from our street and exploded; he’s got a scar on his leg from what he feels was getting hit by shrapnel as he hid behind a tree. Another that had fallen in the town square yet didn’t detonate. He recalled that the British military came and took it away after about a week. And finally, when the Germans were run out of the country, he told me of the young German soldiers, some that couldn’t be older than 15 just giving away all their supplies and even during the German occupation of Italy that the German soldiers treated the locals with dignity and respect, not causing them harm. As military members, they were but following orders during a difficult situation at a time of war. The reason he spoke English so well was that when he became an adult, work was scarce in Italy and so Remo moved to Australia where he lived until he retired and moved back to Italy to finish his life in his home country.

The day that changed my world. The day that my military service became something of meaning. We all know this day as September 11, 2001.   I was in Airman Leadership School when we were told that something was not right on the east coast of the United States. It was the end of our day; the instructors turned on the television just before United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center complex. A day that I won’t forget the moment I found out; a day like other generations endured such as the Pearl Harbor attacks or the assassination of President Kennedy. Here we are, 19 years later, and I still remember this event as though it just happened yesterday. The Smith family and mine huddled in my living room until well past midnight reliving the day’s events over and over, listening to Tom Brokaw and other news broadcasters informing us of the terrorist attacks that would shape our lives and the define what the United States Military would come to be for me for the next two decades. Prior to this, we were primarily containing Saddam Hussain’s regime in Iraq. Osama Bin Laden would become the new enemy and soon we found ourselves in a war in Afghanistan and two short years later in Iraq. Today, we are still heavily involved in the Middle East theater even as our military is shifting towards the Pacific arena.

Stay tuned for more about Aviano and my second deployment that would be happening soon……