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Prepping ‘stratotankers’ in Sioux City complicated by February’s weather

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Snow and ice this February in Sioux City created extra duties for members of the 185th Air National Guard Refueling Wing. Crews must prepare the “Stratotankers” for flight in all weather conditions.

“It’s Iowa. It’s winter. You’re going to have this,” says Chief Master Sergeant Mark Wankum, the maintenance chief for aircraft at the base. “Granted, this year we’ve had a lot more snow than in the past couple years, but you know we just all come out. We get together. We do it. We come up with a game plan.”

A special solution is used for the “de-icing” process.

“We heat that in the truck to 185 degrees and then we spray the aircraft with that,” he says. “That’ll help melt off any more ice that’s left behind or any snow that just won’t leave. Then, once it melts it off, we can just blow the big chunks off with the hot air.”

But if there are still spots of ice or snow on the planes, crews have to manually brush it away. Icy runway conditions make that tricky work, according to Wankum.

“Of course, you’ve got to allow more time,” Wankum says. “It takes a little longer to get around…just because of the slick conditions…You’ve got to be careful so we’re not letting everybody fall all over.”

Wankum’s crews spent part of last week preparing planes for missions in warmer climates.

(Reporting by Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City; photos courtesy of Iowa Air National Guard)

Legislators asked to more than double property tax break for combat vets

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The posting of the colors at the veterans state capitol event.

Veterans rallied at the statehouse today, seeking legislative action on a variety of fronts, including an increase in the property tax exemption for combat veterans.

Dan Gannon, a Marine veteran who served in combat in Vietnam, said it takes more than just saying, “Thank you,” to honor Iowa’s veterans.

“Vietnam Veterans of America’s motto is (this): ‘Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another,” Gannon said. “I can promise you this — all of you here today in attendance or those of you who are listening, under my watch as chairman of the Iowa Commission of Veterans Affairs and as a fellow veteran: ‘You will not be forgotten.'”

The Iowa Commission on Veterans Affairs has an 11-point agenda for the 2018 legislative session. In addition to the recommendation that the military property tax exemption increase from $1,852 to $5,000, there’s a call for some sort of state law requiring “Americanism and Patriotism” be taught in public K-12 schools. The commission is also asking for an expansion of Veterans Treatment Courts that help vets resolve substance abuse and mental health issues and gets criminal charges dismissed if they make progress.

Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison who served two decades in the Marines, is chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee in the Iowa House.

“I’m working for meaningful accomplishments that changes the lives of veterans,” Holt told the crowd.

There are more than 230,000 veterans in the state of Iowa. That’s nearly 7.5% of the state’s population.

Iowa National Guard leader wants to expand recruiting effort

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The leader of the Iowa National Guard is suggesting the organization to broaden its outreach, in an effort to attract more recruits from non-military families.

Adjutant General Timothy Orr says the Iowa Guard has “maintained its position in personnel readiness,” but recruiting “high-quality men and women” in the future could be a challenge.

“With only three out of ten 17 to 24 year-olds eligible today for military service due to various reasons, there’s significant concern among civilian and military leaders about the future of our military and the readiness of our force to defend this nation in the years ahead,” Orr said. The concern, according to Orr, is driven by the large percentage of U.S. service members who come from military families.

“We are effectively creating a class in our society that is carrying the burden for the remainder of the citizens,” Orr said. It’s “critically important,” Orr said, to “broaden the scope” of those serving in the military to include people from different backgrounds.

“According to the Department of Defense, since our country ended the draft in 1973, more than 80-percent of our service members come from a family where at least one parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle, sibling or cousin has served, and more than 25% of our troops have at least one parent who has served,” Orr said.

The “centerpiece” of recruiting efforts in Iowa, according to Orr, is the Iowa National Guard Education Assistance Program. NGEAP is funded by the state. “This year, more than 1,200 of our members received up to 100% tuition paid at the State Regents’ rate to attend Iowa colleges, universities, and community colleges through this program, keeping our young people in the state and providing them with a high-quality Iowa education,” Orr said.

Orr made his comments in his annual Condition of the Guard address last week at the Capitol.

Sioux City Air Guard Wing wins award

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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)

Iowa soldiers home from hurricane duty in time for Thanksgiving

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Iowa soldiers returning from duty in Puerto Rico.

A group of Iowa National Guard soldiers will have plenty of stories to share with friends and families this Thanksgiving after returning from duty providing security in Puerto Rico following the island’s devastation by Hurricane Maria.

Master Sergeant Mathew Rietz was among the group of security specialists from the 132nd Wing in Des Moines who landed in Puerto Rico on September 26.

“When we got there, there was basically no vegetation left on the trees and pretty much the whole island was still kind of wiped out as far as the power grid. And it went on that way for about the next month until you saw the power come on in the airport area where we were stationed,” Rietz says. He says the lack of power left the country without traffic lights.

“And so it was very chaotic. Slowly over the time that we were there the power was slowly coming on, but when we got ready to leave they were still pretty desperate as far as traffic systems and stuff like that…but you could definitely see the difference from when we got there and when we left,” Rietz says. The Iowans were given the task of providing security at the San Juan airport so that relief supplies could get in.

He says the main concern when they got there was to help the 156th Security Forces Squadron as they went and took care of their own families. “As we were able to help them out and they were able to get back on their feet — then we also went out into the community and helped out with food and humanitarian missions,” according to Rietz.

Truck being loaded for duty in Puerto Rico.

Rietz says they had taken a month’s supply of food with them and have to have more flown in as the mission went on. He says that was a key concern and they did hear of some issues with people on the island as the food supply got worse. But, he says they didn’t run into any big problems with the people they worked with.

“Everyone was very positive — especially after everything they went through being hit with two hurricanes in a row basically,” Rietz says. “And even the people that I worked with personally that didn’t have power on until we were getting ready to leave. Their whole outlook on things was positive and they were just happy to have any help that they could get.”

Rietz says that positive attitude made the mission better for the Iowans as they tried to help. “Because going into something like that…people can be desperate and a lot of despair,” Rietz says, “but they were all positive while we were there, not only the soldiers we worked with from Puerto Rico, but all the civilians in Puerto Rico had a positive attitude and they were just happy to have any help that they had.”

Rietz says they saw signs of the vegetation starting to grow back on the trees as they prepared to leave.

(Photos courtesy of the Iowa National Guard)

Iowa National Guard members to help provide security in Puerto Rico

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Some two dozen Iowa National Guard soldiers are leaving the state Tuesday for duty in Puerto Rico.

Iowa National Guard spokesman, Colonel Greg Hapgood says they are flying out on KC-135 Stratotanker from the 185th Air Refueling Wing from Sioux City.

He says the airmen are from 185th Refueling Wing and the 132nd Wing in Des Moines. “Their job as security forces members is just like a civilian law enforcement officer, but they wear a military uniform,” Hapgood says. He says they will supplement the security personnel in Puerto Rico as they work with residents recovering from Hurricane Maria.

“To keep people safe, to make sure that people have what they need. To get them to safe areas, to keep them away from hazardous areas, and just to help things smoothly and move forward in the response and recovery phase,” Hapgood explains. Puerto Rico has requested support from Iowa under an agreement between all 50 states, two territories, and the District of Columbia, to assist one another in times of crisis.

Hapgood says they plan for soldiers and airmen to be gone for two week, but they are not sure if it will take longer or take less time. This is the third recovery mission for Iowa National Guard soldiers in recent weeks.

“We had Iowa National Guard personnel who responded to Hurricane Harvey in Houston and also Hurricane Irma in Florida. All of those individuals are back and that equipment is back,” Hapgood says. “It’s been a busy six weeks for certain for the Iowa National Guard, but we are prepared for whatever it is we need to go do.”

Hapgood says electricity is out for the entire island and food and water is scarce — which raises a lot of security concerns there.

Air Force cadets get a look at Iowa Guard operations in Sioux City, Des Moines

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Air Force cadets in Sioux City.

Forty cadets from the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs flew to Sioux City and then Des Moines this past weekend aboard an Iowa Air National Guard KC-135 Stratotanker.

The cadets toured the Air Guard Facilities as part of a partner program between the Air Force Academy and the Iowa Guard. The cadets, including Cadet Second Class Jenna Petty from Spirit Lake, crawled into the boom operators pod in the back of the KC-135 to see a midair refueling of several F-16 fighters.

She says she had been on a KC-135 on the ground but had never flown on one. “That was an awesome

Refueling an F-16 by a tanker from the 185th in Sioux City.

experience,” she says. While visiting the 132nd Wing in Des Moines the Cadets were shown the remotely piloted aircraft operations They also had dinner with Major General Tim Orr, the Adjutant General for the state of Iowa. Orr’s son attends the academy and the general says he invited the academy cadets here to give them a first-hand look at the National Guard operations.

“I really think this is the right thing to do, and having a son at the academy I inquired about when do you get your reserve component experience,” Orr says. “And I don’t believe in their curriculum without a program like this that they get a chance to see what our reserve components do for our Air Force.”

It’s the first time the Air Force Academy has partnered with the Air National Guard in this way. Most of the members of the group are second class cadets or equivalent to juniors in college. The Academy says the visit to Iowa allows the cadets to see a variety of Air Force specialties before deciding on a job at the beginning of their senior year.

(Reporting by Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City/Photos courtesy of the 185th in Sioux City)

Iowa National Guard sees largest call up of soldiers since 2010

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Nearly 400 Iowa National Guard soldiers are being called up for deployment.

The 390 soldiers from the 248th Aviation Support Battalion are aircraft maintainers, test pilots, and logistical support personnel who will be part of a federal call up of approximately 500 Army National Guard Soldiers along with soldiers from Louisiana, Maryland, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

The Iowa soldiers come from companies in Muscatine, Davenport, Waterloo and Boone and make up the largest single-unit deployment of the Iowa National Guard since 2010.

They will travel to Fort Hood, Texas, for additional training before assignment to overseas locations in the U.S. Central Command theater of operation. The Central Command includes nations in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Community send-off ceremonies for the soldiers will be held Friday, September 29th, in the following locations:

Muscatine
Detachment 1, Company A: approximately 30 Soldiers will be honored at a 10 a.m. ceremony in the Iowa National Guard Readiness Center, 5801 Grandview Ave., Muscatine, Iowa.
Davenport
Headquarters Support Company and Detachment 4, Company B: approximately 75 Soldiers will be honored at a 10 a.m. ceremony in the Davenport Army Aviation Support Facility, 9650 N. Harrison St., Davenport, Iowa.
Waterloo
Company A and Detachment 3, Company B: approximately 105 Soldiers will be honored at a 2 p.m. ceremony in the University of Northern Iowa West Gym, 2501 Minnesota St., UNI Campus, Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Boone
Detachment 1, Headquarters Support Company and Company B: approximately 180 Soldiers will be honored at a 5 p.m. ceremony in the Boone High School gym, 500 7th St., Boone, Iowa.

National Guard sending helicopters to Florida for hurricane recovery

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Iowa National Guard Chinook helicopters.

Four Iowa National Guard helicopters are heading to Florida today to help with hurricane recovery. Guard spokesman Colonel Greg Hapgood says 19 soldiers will go with the four choppers.

He says two of the helicopters are the CH-47F Chinook helicopters, which are used to lift heavy loads of supplies and people. The other two are LUH-72 Lakota helicopters and are smaller than the Chinooks.

“Which can provide capabilities to show the planners and others what is going in an areas. It’s got sophisticated optics and cameras. It can also help move a few things and people as well. But again, it is a light helicopter,” according to Hapgood.

Chinooks taking off.

Hapgood says they do not know how long the soldiers from Waterloo, Davenport, Iowa City and Boone may be on hurricane duty. “We did have two helicopters and 11 crewmembers go to Hurricane Harvey, and we expected about two weeks and they were back in 10 days,” Hapgood says. “So we’re hopeful that the situation will be quickly under control on the response part of the hurricane, and our members can come back relatively soon.”

He says each storm is different when it comes to the recovery. “Certainly there is some amount of time that we really don’t know what it till take to get this mission done,” Hapgood says. “What I can tell you from past experience is the State of Florida does a terrific job for hurricanes. They are very efficient at it, very experienced in their response. So we are hopeful that everything will got their way and we can get our crews back here in no time.”

The state of Florida has requested support from Iowa under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, which is a national, mutual aid and partnership agreement that allows state-to-state assistance during governor-declared or federally-declared emergencies.

The soldiers heading to Florida are from the following units:
Company A, 1st Battalion, 376th Aviation, Security and Support (Waterloo); Company B, 2-211th General Support Aviation Battalion (Davenport); Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 67th Troop Command (Iowa City); Company C, 2-147th Aviation (Boone); Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division (Boone); Company D, 2-211th General Aviation Support Battalion (Davenport).

Photo courtesy of the Iowa National Guard.

Ernst thankful Trump shifting more authority to military

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Senator Joni Ernst. (file photo)

On this, the 16th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, Senator Joni Ernst said she is “thankful” for a new direction in the “overall War on Terror.”

“We finally do have a president that is very focused on really destroying ISIS, destroying al Qaeda, putting the Taliban back in its place instead of just trying to contain these different issues,” Ernst said during an interview with Radio Iowa.

Ernst retired from the Iowa National Guard after a 23 year career which included a tour of duty in Iraq. Ernst said the military has greater flexibility now in pursuing the “types of folks who put together the 9/11 attacks.”

“I see that as a developing issue with this president, allowing our military leaders to determine the course that we take to destroying the enemy and I’m thankful for that,” Ernst said. “I don’t like to see us tying the hands of our military leaders.”

President Trump has been steadily transferring war-fighting authority he and previous presidents have had to the Pentagon. Ernst and other supporters of these moves say it gives commanders authority to make quick tactical decisions, rather than wait for a go-ahead that might come when conditions have changed. Critics suggest Trump may be trying insulate himself from criticism when military operations go wrong.

Ernst was the commander of the Iowa National Guard’s largest batallion until September of 2014, shortly before she was elected to the U.S. Senate. Ernst was the Iowa National Guard’s deputy chief of staff when she retired on November 30, 2015.