“Alaska is the most central place in the world for aircraft.
I believe in the future, he who holds Alaska will hold the world, and I think
it is the most strategic place in the world.” - Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell, 1935
By the late 1920s, it was clear that Alaska's geography,
roughly halfway between the major cities of East Asia, Europe and North
America, made it critical for air travel. While Alaska was prized in the 1920s
for its ability to hold fueling stations, Mitchell points out that the pace of
technology will change things further. "The vast leagues of the Pacific
are shrinking continually under the magic of scientific aircraft development.
The day is not far off when neither months, weeks nor days will be used in
computing the trip (between the United States and Asia), but hours alone."
Even if fueling is not necessary in Alaska, the shortest route still flies over
that territory, Mitchell realized. He began promoting the idea that Alaska
needed to have military air bases in order to serve effectively in the next
war. In 1934, Col. Henry “Hap” Arnold led a flight of 10 B-10 bombers from
Washington, D.C. to Fairbanks, Alaska, to help build the case for these
airfields. This was the first time a flight to Alaska did not need to stop in
Canada. Following this successful flight,
Rep. James Mark Wilcox, D-Florida, introduced a bill calling for airfield
construction in Alaska. He introduced it soon after the start of the 74th
Congress, and it was referred to committee. On Feb. 11, 1935, this was where
Mitchell declared in support of the bill, "Alaska is the most central
place in the world for aircraft, and that is true of Europe, Asia or North America.
I believe, in the future, he who holds Alaska will hold the world, and I think
it is the most strategic place in the world."
Wilcox's bill became law in August 1935, and construction of
bases in Fairbanks, Anchorage and Kodiak followed. They were followed by others
as war broke out in Europe, and by the time the United States entered the war,
they were ready for operation. It's difficult to say whether Mitchell's
testimony was critical to the passage of the bill, but it's easy to say that
the bill itself was critical to American defense of Alaska. Without it, bases
might not have been ready for use when war began.
What a journey the Air Force up to this point had been; up
till the moment I left Grand Forks, North Dakota heading toward Alaska, I had
been in the Air Force for 13 years, been promoted 5 times, gone on 4
deployments, been stationed at 3 bases, saw the birth of 2 children. Alaska turned out to be a game changer in so
many ways; I made mistakes; mistakes that I would have to live with for long
into the future. I would find myself
being promoted yet again, and the addition of two more deployments! Let’s dive in.
As stated, I in the last blog, I left Grand Forks on May 24th,
2009 – just two days after Alec’s 11th birthday; our little Danielle
was almost a year old and would take her first steps on the journey north! We crossed into Canada with a SUV pulling a
camper at Sweet Grass, Montana and just took our time winding through Canada,
taking 10 days to get to our base just outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. Crossing into Canada that late May day we
found ourselves driving through Banff National Park - Canada’s first national park
and the flagship of the nation’s park system and through
Calgary, mind you this entire trip using a great book called Milepost to guide
us where to stay, where to get gas, what sights to see on the way. If you have never made the trip up the ALCAN
to Alaska, I would totally recommend it.
I made the trip north and back south 4 years later. Throughout our travels we found ourselves
going through Grand Prairie in the province of Alberta, crossing into the
British Columbia province near Dawson Creek, passing through Fort St. John,
Fort Nelson, and Watson Lake. At this point we transitioned into the Northwest
Territories province at Watson Lake, pushing through Whitehorse, Haines
Junction, Destruction Bay, and Beaver Creek before crossing back into the
United States through Tok, Delta Junction, and finally up to Eielson Air Force
Base, near North Pole in the interior of Alaska.
One of the most amazing attractions on this drive is the
Sign Post Forrest at Historic Mile 635 in Watson Lake. Travelers from around the world have been
bringing signposts from their hometowns to the Sign Post Forest since 1942 and
continue to do so today. The tradition
began during the Alaska Highway Project in 1942, when U.S. soldier Carl K.
Lindley spent time in Watson Lake recovering from an injury. A commanding
officer asked him to repair and erect the directional signposts, and while
completing the job, he added a sign that indicated the direction and mileage to
his hometown of Danville, Illinois. Others followed suit, and the trend caught
on. In 1990, a couple from Ohio added the 10,000th sign in the Signpost Forest.
Today, there are over 77,000 signs in the Forest, and the number grows each
year as visitors contribute signs and continue the tradition. The Town of
Watson Lake maintains the site, adding more sign posts as they fill up. If you
ever make this trip, make sure to bring along a sign to add to the forest or you
can make one at the Yukon Visitor Information Center to officially leave your
mark!
Of course, a trip of this magnitude should not be taken
without the most seriousness of preparation.
During the winter months, most passes require chains on vehicles and
many gas stations are closed.
Even in
May, we ran into snowy mountain passes, lots of animals on the side of and in
the middle of the road and two punctured tires; one on the SUV and one on the
camper.
It was slow going in many
places, over one lane bridges, areas of the road that was still unpaved – but
an amazing trip none the less.
As I
said, we took our time taking 10 days to travel north, but it can be done with
long days in as little as 4 days or less with multiple drivers.
After arriving to Eielson, we closed on our house that would
be home for the next 4 years in North Pole – we lived about a mile north of
“The Santa Clause House.”
My time here
at Eielson would provide me with both happiness and pain; I learned a lot about
myself both personally and professionally while stationed at this base in
Alaska’s interior.
The summers were
great, minus the forest fires that would make it very smoky from time to time;
nearly 24 hours of daylight in near perfect weather.
The winter was another story completely.
Sometimes as little as 4 hours of twilight
and temperatures as cold as 50 below zero, I believe I saw it as cold as -63;
the winters are certainly brutal to man and machine if you are not
prepared.
I would deploy two more times
at this base and also be promoted to the rank of Master Sergeant, an E-7 in the
Air Force.
My deployments while here in
Alaska included six month trips to Iraq and Bahrain.
Ali Air Base,
Nasiriyah, Iraq
Known
by many names, Ali, Talil, Camp Adder, this base near the Kuwaiti border has a
lot of history.
First contact by the
American military happened during the 1991 Gulf War when its fortified aircraft
shelters were heavily damaged by coalition bombing missions.
The air base originally served as the home of
an Iraqi unit of Soviet-built MiG fighter aircraft as well as several Mi-24D
helicopter gunships. The aircraft could be serviced and stored in 36 fortified
concrete aircraft hangars located at either end of the main runway. These
aircraft shelters, sometimes referred to as "trapezoids" or
"Yugos", were built by Yugoslavian contractors sometime prior to 1985.
After the start of the Iraq War in 2003, Ali Air Base, was used by the U.S. Air
Force’s 332d Air Expeditionary Wing before they moved to Balad Air Base in
January 2004. The 407th Air Expeditionary Group, operating C-130 Hercules cargo
airplanes, then utilized the base and trained more than 100 Iraqi Airmen on how
to maintain and fly the C-130 type until February 2006. Ali Air Base was
thereafter used primarily by U.S. forces, including elements of the U.S. Army,
Air Force, the Navy, and the Marine Corps. The base was nearly vacated of all
U.S. Forces on 16 December 2011. The closure of this were the final actions in
Operation New Dawn, the successor mission to Operation Iraqi Freedom.
At the start of Iraqi Freedom, on March 23, 2003, a convoy,
belonging to the 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed by Iraqi forces during
the Battle of Nasiriyah. The subsequent recovery of Private First Class Jessica
Lynch by U.S. Special Operations Forces on April 1, 2003 received considerable
media coverage; it was the first successful rescue of an American prisoner of
war since World War II and the first ever of a woman. The convoy made a wrong turn and were
ambushed near Nasiriyah, a major crossing point over the Euphrates. The convoy was supposed to detour around the
town and instead turned directly into it, eventually running into an ambush.
The ambush was unlikely to have been set up in advance, because the Iraqis did
not know which course the convoy would take. Although some vehicles had GPS
receivers, military GPS systems, unlike civilian equivalents, provide only grid
references and not turn-by-turn navigation. Maps of the area lack the detail
required to properly navigate through tight city streets. Apparently, the convoy
took more than one wrong turn. The convoy came under attack by enemy fire.
Eleven other soldiers in the company were killed in the ambush. Five additional
soldiers were captured and subsequently rescued 21 days later. Initial official
reports on Lynch's capture and rescue in Iraq were incorrect. On April 24,
2007, she testified in front of Congress that she had never fired her weapon
(her M16 rifle having jammed), and that she had been knocked unconscious when
her vehicle crashed. Lynch has been
outspoken in her criticism of the original stories reported regarding her
combat experience. When asked about her heroine status, she stated "That
wasn't me. I'm not about to take credit for something I didn't do ... I'm just
a survivor.”
Ur, Iraq's most famous archeological site, was perhaps the
earliest city in the world. Ur flourished under the Sumerians between 3500 BC
and 4000 BC. It is located within the confines of Ali Air Base; Ur has been
identified as the birthplace of the biblical patriarch Abraham. In the early
decades of the 20th century, excavations uncovered a royal cemetery in which
members of the ruling elite were buried with their servants and
beautifully-made possessions. Ur's dominant feature is the remains of a ramped
ziggurat or temple tower, the best preserved in Iraq.
While I was at this desert base in 2010, a member of our
base was killed when an improvised explosive device pierced his Mine
Resistant-Ambush Protected vehicle. Army
Major Ronald Culver was killed May 24; I would read about his May 27 memorial
service soon after. Major Culver had
given his watch to a young lieutenant who kept asking what time it was, afraid
she would miss a meeting. He told her he had worn that watch without taking it
off for a year during his last deployment here and he left without a scratch. He
told her to never take it off and she'll go home fine. She was a public affairs
officer and every night the watch alarm went off at six p.m. She called and
asked him how to turn it off and he said he wouldn't tell her. Every evening
when the alarm goes off, he explained, she will be reminded that she needs to
write more stories about the Soldiers. When his seemingly routine mission began
that day, the major asked some of the members of the squadron to fly a flag in
honor of his wedding anniversary. He would send it back to his wife. They
raised his flag in front of headquarters for him. That afternoon, after the
attack, they lowered his flag to half-staff, in memory of him.
Towards the end of the memorial service for Major
Culver, the room was called to attention. The first sergeant on stage called
for roll call for Headquarters and Headquarters Troop.
He yelled, "Captain Lloyd!"
A booming voice yelled back, "Here, First
Sergeant!"
He yelled, "Major Robinson!"
"Here First Sergeant."
He yelled, "Major Culver!"
There was silence.
He yelled, "Major Ronald Culver!"
Silence.
He yelled again, "Major Ronald W. Culver,
Jr.!"
And a voice said, "He's not here first
sergeant, for he's gone to Fiddler's Green."
Profound silence.
"Sergeant Major, strike Major Culver's name
from the roll."
I was able to participate in many dignified
transfer ceremonies while in Iraq; day or night, we posted on the flightline
and saluted as fallen service members were transferred to military aircraft to
go home as heroes, their coffins always draped in the American flag. These are moments
that I won’t ever forget.
Isa Air Base,
Bahrain
Isa Air Base, formerly Shaikh Isa Air Base is located on the
240-square-mile island nation of Bahrain, situated off Saudia Arabia's eastern
coast, south of the countries’ capitol, Manama. It hosts the Royal Bahraini Air
Force Fighter Wing and the two squadrons that comprise it. In March 2009, the
United States Air Force established a camp on Isa Air Base to support aerial
port operations. The unit was designated a detachment of the 379th Air
Expeditionary Wing of Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. This detachment's purpose was
to accelerate the delivery of mine-resistant ambush-protected all-terrain
vehicles to U.S. forces in Afghanistan. It was built with American assistance
starting in 1987. It is the base for the 1st Fighter Wing of the BAAF. After Saddam
Hussein invaded Kuwait on 2 August 1990, coalition forces poured into the
region in the ensuing months under Operation Desert Shield. Sheik Isa was
inundated with military aircraft. Close to 200 US aircraft filled the ramps
F-4Gs, F-18s, AV-8Bs, A-6Es, EA-6Bs, KC-10s while the base transformed into a
small city of 12,000 military personnel. USMC, US Navy and USAF units have
continued to deploy to the base at regular intervals up until the present day. The
period that I was there in 2012, there were Navy P-3C Orion aircraft stationed
at this island base.
Myself and another
USAF Master Sergeant (I was also a Master Sergeant at this time) would guide a
flight of 13 Navy Fuels Aviation Boatswain's Mates, delivering fuel and
maintaining a system compromised of older Air Force equipment, bladders, pumps,
and fuel trucks transferred to the Navy.
I was one of less than 50 Air Force members on this Navy base.
An interesting deployment for sure!
I have always been interested in the historical value of all
of the places I have been.
I was able to
visit a local Bahrain landmark, located between Isa Air Base and Manama; a site called “The
Tree of Life” or Bharain’s Loneliest Tree.
The Tree of Life in Bahrain is a 32 feet high Prosopis Cineraria tree
that is over 400 years old. It is on a hill in a barren area of the Arabian
Desert, a mile from Jebel Dukhan, the highest point in Bahrain, and 25 miles
from Manama, the nearest city. The tree is abundantly covered in green leaves.
Due to its age and the fact that it is the only major tree growing in the area,
the tree is a local tourist attraction and is visited by approximately 65,000
people every year. The yellow resin is used to make candles, aromatics and gum;
the beans are processed into meal, jam, and wine. It is not certain how the
tree survives. Bahrain has little to no rain throughout the year. Its roots are
50 meters deep, which may be enough to reach the water source. Others say the
tree has learned to extract moisture from grains of sand. Some assert that the
tree is protected by Enki, a god of water in Babylonian and Sumerian religion.
Still others claim that the tree is standing in what was once the Garden of
Eden, and so has a more mystical source of water. In 2009, the tree was
nominated to be on the New7Wonders of Nature list, but unfortunately did not
finish on the list. In October 2010, archaeologists unearthed 500-year-old
pottery and other artefacts in the vicinity of the tree. A soil and
dendrochronology analysis conducted in the 1990s concluded that the tree was an
Acacia planted in 1582. The tree was mentioned in the 1991 film L.A. Story,
where Steve Martin calls it one of the most mystical places on earth.
Back at Eielson Air Force Base, in Alaska’s interior, it
would share a designation with another base that I would find myself at 3
assignments into the future. The home to
RED FLAG-Alaska, a realistic, 10-day air combat United States Air Force
training exercise held up to four times a year. It is held at Eielson Air Force
Base and Elmendorf Air Force Base in the State of Alaska. RED FLAG-Alaska
participants are organized into "Red" defensive forces and
"Blue" offensive forces. "White" forces represent the
neutral controlling agency. The offensive force includes the full spectrum of
U.S. and allied tactical and support units. Because the defensive and offensive
forces meet in a simulated hostile, non-cooperative training environment, the
job of controlling the mock war and ensuring safety falls to the
"White" neutral force. By providing generic scenarios using common
worldwide threats and simulated combat conditions, RED FLAG-Alaska gives
everyone an opportunity to make the tough calls combat often requires.
Eielson Air Force Base is located approximately 26 miles
southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska and just southeast of Moose Creek, Alaska. It
was established in 1943 as Mile 26 Satellite Field. Its host unit is the 354th
Fighter Wing assigned to the Eleventh Air Force of the Pacific Air Forces. The
354 FW's primary mission is to support Red Flag. Eielson AFB was named in honor
of polar pilot Carl Ben Eielson. Eielson
is projected to have fifty-four F-35's arriving in April 2020 and continuing
through 2022. The planes will come with an estimated 3,500 personnel, to
include Airmen and their families as well as civilian personnel. The F-35
program will increase the number of military personnel at Eielson by about 50
percent, which is a significant change for a base once on the brink of closure.
Eielson Air Force Base has operated a multitude of aircraft:
- P-38 Lightning (1946–1953)
- P-51 Mustang (1946–47)
- C-47 Skytrain|VC/SC/C-47 Skytrain (1949–1969)
- B-29 Superfortress|B-29/RB-29/WB-29 (1949–1956)
- P-80 Shooting Star (1950–51)
- T-33 Shooting Star (1950–1981)
- F-86 Sabre (1954–55)
- de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver (1952–60)
- KC-97 Stratofreighter (1959–61)
- WB-47 Stratojet (1960–68)
- WB-50 Superfortress (1960–68)
- F-102 Delta Dagger (1960–69)
- Piasecki H-21|Piasecki CH/SH/HH-21 (1960–1980)
- Lockheed U-2|U-2 Dragon Lady (1962–1964)
- Boeing RC-135 (1962–1992)
- C-123 Provider (1965–66, 1969–71)
- F-106 Delta Dart (1965–69)
- KC-135 Stratotanker (1967–present)
- F-4 Phantom II Det DC (1970–82)
- HH-3E Jolly Green Giant (1970–90)
- [O-2 Skymaster (1971–89)
- A-10 Thunderbolt II (1981–2007)
- OV-10 Bronco (1986–89)
- F-16 Fighting Falcon (1991 – present)
- F-35 (2020 – FAR INTO THE FUTURE)
There’s a B-29 in a small lake that’s visible to
all who want to see. While practicing touch-and-go landings, the front landing
gear of a KB-29P buckled in April of 1956, sending the temporary duty aircraft
careening across the Eielson runway into a snowbank. Towing operations damaged
the aircraft even more, and base officials decided to condemn the aircraft and
strip it of usable parts. Several years later, the story goes, the KB-29 was
hauled to a gravel pit off Transmitter Road, where a lake formed around the
dilapidated aircraft. It subsequently became known as "Lady of the
Lake." It's a good tale, but alas, not the origin of the Lady of the Lake.
The "Lady," it turns out, is just a worn out B-29 formerly belonging
to Eielson's 58th WRS. It broke down in September 1954 and was declared a
permanent loss due to wear and tear. It is likely that because of the impending
phase-out of the B-29 in favor of the B-50, base officials decided not to
repair the aircraft. Air Force records show it dropped from the inventory due
to a ground accident in May 1955, although no available evidence suggests it
was fixed or that it was ever in any accidents. When it was towed to its
present location is unknown.
During my tour in Alaska, I worked for some
amazing leaders and had some great co-workers as well. One of them being SMSgt Adrian “Diesel”
Garner. I worked under him for a
majority of the time that I was stationed at Eielson. I worked in places such as Refueling
Maintenance, Fuels Resource Control Center, and as both the FISC and Ops
Section Chiefs at different times. I
remember Diesel would always call me “Lee Watros” and does to this day. On one occasion, while working FISC, I gave
him a large stack of folders for his signature as he was the fuels account
responsible officer. I have to mention
that I put them on his desk on a Friday afternoon, as he was going to start his
vacation. I just wanted them off my
desk!! I can never forget the look on his face as he states, “really Lee
Watros, really?!” I held that position
of the responsible officer years later so I certainly know and realize his
frustrations with me now!
But honestly, off duty was the best part of living
in Alaska; from driving around looking for moose on backroads at 2 in the
morning, to four-wheeling through the many trails and mountains in the area, to
finishing a horseshoe race (and getting lost in the dark for a bit) to an
amazing fishing trip I took right after getting home from Iraq in 2010. A group of us got on a float plane in
Fairbanks and were dropped off on a river system about a half hours flight
away. We were directed to our cabin and
the use of two boats and a see you tomorrow by the pilot. We were on fish from the moment we got on the
water until the moment the plane picked us up the next day. I have never been so sore and ready to stop
casting a line as I was after that 24 hour fishing trip. What made it even more eventful was we had to
push the plane out as the pilot had gotten one of the pontoons stuck on a
sandbar! To finally watching a race that
I love to this day, the Yukon Quest, and a chance encounter on the river in
North Pole with a musher heading to the final stop in Fairbanks on a cold 2011
night. I pulled my flight’s challenge coin
out of my pocket and handed it to Hank DeBruin, the Red Lantern that year. A coin that has bonded us together in that
race. I’ll have to specifically write
about that moment in a future post because it’s a good one – and the story continues
to this day! Ahhhhhhh, Alaska!
Airmen who are stationed on Eielson commonly refer
to themselves as "Icemen" due to the frigid Alaskan weather. Their
wing motto is: "Ready to go at fifty below! This was one of my top 2 favorite bases that
I was stationed at; the other being Aviano Air Base in Italy. I would love to get back to Alaska at some
point in my life. Who knows what the
future holds! I found myself heading
back to what Alaskans refer to as the “Lower 48” in 2103 after a quick 4 year
stay. During this stop in my career, I also
found myself as a divorcee after being married to my high-school sweetheart,
Misty, for 15 years. Lots of lessons
learned for sure. Next stop; back to where it all started, Seymour Johnson Air
Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina.
I initially thought Seymour would be where I would finish my career; to
finish where I started was an awesome thought on paper. It wasn’t meant to be though…..keep reading
as the Journey Continues!
