Iraq: The end of an era

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jason Burton
  • 75th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah --  In both an emotional and historic moment, seven Team Hill Airmen returned home December 21 from Ali Air Base, Iraq.

While this homecoming was special since these Airmen arrived home just in time to celebrate the holidays with their families and friends, the truly amazing thing about this group of Airmen is the fact that on Dec. 18, they were all on the very last American military flight out of Iraq.

These seven Team Hill Airmen were Master Sgt. Daniel Bosche, Tech. Sgt. Sean Hannahh and Staff Sgts. Christopher Jones and Kenneth Willingham, all from the 75th Security Forces Squadron. Master Sgt. Margaret Williams from the 75th Force Support Squadron was also in the group as well as Master Sgt. Carl Bortz and Tech. Sgt. Blaine Arsenault, both from the 75th Logistics Readiness Squadron.

While they all served in different roles and capacities, these seven Airmen all participated in the evacuation and shutdown of Ali Air Base in southern Iraq and were all passengers on the historic last military flight from Iraqi soil.

"It feels great to be back home right before Christmas," said Hannah. "It is interesting to be able to say we were the last unit in Iraq, but I'm glad this chapter in our history is over."

While deployed to Ali Air Base, Hannah served as the Noncommissioned Officer in Charge of Operations for the Security Flight. And during his five months at Ali Air Base, Hannah never thought he would be one of the last American service members in Iraq.

Hannah added that a lot of American forces have invested a large amount of time over the years training the Iraqi security forces so it will be interesting to see how much they keep up with it and how well they do now.

While each Airman was deployed to Ali Air Base for different lengths of time, Williams was there for seven months.

During that time her primary job was accountability of casualties, but luckily according to Williams, they did not have any casualties during her time at Ali Air Base.

After saying getting back to her husband was the best Christmas present she could ask for, Williams went on to explain her thoughts on the conclusion to the American campaign in Iraq.

"Iraq has come a long way since we first got there, but they still have a long way to go," said Williams. "And they were very thankful for everything we have done for them."

For Williams this homecoming also marked another special occasion for her as she approaches retirement. This was her last deployment and this historic event helped highlight the end of her Air Force career.

Most of the Airmen who participated in the Ali Air Base shutdown didn't know if they would be there until the end, but Bosche knew from the very beginning he would be.

"I was over there just under six months and from Day One I knew I was going there to shut that base down," Bosche said. "So my team and I had lots of time to train the Iraqi security forces and to plan, prepare and train for that very last day when we closed the base down."

Bosche noted that they were all surprised they did not receive any sort of resistance from the insurgents during their last day in Iraq. Considering at one point Ali Air Base had more than 14,000 service members and on the last day it was down to only a few hundred, it is a good thing nothing did happen.

However, Bosche said they had planned for many different scenarios and they had many contingencies prepared in case something was to go wrong that last day.

"During those last few hours, everything was going so smoothly. Everyone who helped load the aircraft and secure the air field did an excellent job," Bosche said.

Bosche added that even though he knew for six months he was going to be one of the last Airmen in Iraq, it didn't really hit him until the last few minutes on the ground.

"Once we stepped on that plane it was kind of surreal to realize that we were it, there weren't any other America forces in Iraq," said Bosche. "And then the plane took off and we were all cheering on the plane."

Bosche said it's nice to be home in time for the holidays and plans to spend as much time as he can at home with his family. He also said it will be nice to eat some decent food because as the base was shutting down, the Ali Air Base chow hall was closed a month before they left Iraq.

"We have had nothing to eat but MREs," he said. "We were also conserving water and fuel and going without power for days at a time just to make sure we could make it to that last day without any problems."

After the holidays, Bosche said he will go back to training and protecting the Air Force, its members and assets while doing his home station mission. He also said that he will be ready to serve the next time the Air Force needs him to deploy.