Refueling boom of the 185th in Sioux City.
Sioux City’s 185th Iowa Air National Guard Refueling Wing has received a special honor. Base Commander Colonel Larry Christensen announced at the 185th Headquarters that they’d won the “Outstanding Unit Award.”
He says the award is not only a reflection on the unit, but also the community and the support they give. Christensen says this is the 9th time the unit has earned the award, and this one is for the 2015 to 2016 time period.
Christensen says that seems like a long time ago, but he says it takes them some time to evaluate the units. The 185th’s main mission is mid-air refueling, flying and maintaining 8 KC-135R Stratotanker aircraft. They have personnel stationed all over the world on a constant rotational basis and some will soon go on a new mission:
“We’re currently in South America, Africa, the Middle East, but we shift every once in a while. And we are going to have a shift here shortly,” Christensen says. “We’ll continue to deploy where we are at, but we will also move over towards the Pacific, over towards Guam,” Christensen says. The 185th Air Guard unit is comprised of over 900 full and part time members.
(By Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City)