200 Airmen Set To Deploy

Saturday, March 6, 2010 11:36 PM CST
Times Record Staff
Southwest Times Record

Airmen with Forth Smith's 188th Fighter Wing will depart the area for deployment to Afghanistan on Monday.

Approximately 200 airmen with the Arkansas Air National Guard's 188th Fighter Wing are set to be deployed to Afghanistan Monday morning, according to a news release issued by Capt. Heath Allen, public affairs officer for the Arkansas National Guard.

"The personnel leaving Monday will be deployed approximately two months as part of the 188th's Aerospace Expeditionary Forces rotation," Allen stated in the news release.

The airmen being deployed will join approximately 75 members of the 188th already in Afghanistan, Allen said. There they will be attached to the 451st Expeditionary Wing.

Allen said Monday's deployment will be the first Aerospace Expeditionary Forces deployment since the Fighter Wing received A-10 Thunderbolt II "Warthogs" on April 14, 2007. He said the 188th's last Aerospace Expeditionary Forces deployment occurred in 2005 when 267 airmen and 10 F-16s were deployed to Iraq.

Source

Note: The 188th Fighter Wing, Arkansas ANG, is currently sharing a four-month Operation Enduring Freedom combat deployment with the 175th Wing, Maryland ANG, to the 451st Air Expeditionary Wing at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. In early January 2010, elements from both units deployed as ANG "Rainbow Team" with twelve A-10Cs to replace the 354th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron from Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. Since the change over from the 354th EFS January 13, 2010, the ANG "Rainbow Team" is official designated 104th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron because the 175th Wg with their 104th Fighter Squadron is the lead unit for the first half of this deployment. The 188th FW and their 184th Fighter Squadron will be the lead unit for the second half of this ongoing deployment. And so, it could be that the "Rainbow Team" will be designated 184th EFS for the second half.

For additional Kandahar A-10C deployment info please check Warthog News lable Kandahar.