Kuwait trip mixes worry, pride

Karen Zekan

Friday, April 10, 1998 | 10:15 a.m.

While the rest of the fatigue-clad 66th Rescue Squadron had loved ones to hug and kiss Thursday night before boarding the Galaxy C-5 transport bound for Kuwait, Airman 1st Class Mark Steenwyk made his way through the hangar to the tarmac alone.

He'd given his room key to his buddy with instructions to feed his fish and hours earlier had said goodbye to his mom, a long-distance telephone call away in the rural town of Presque Isle, Maine, where most boys his age wind up tilling fields.

"She gets worried -- the typical mother worries. But there's a bit of pride, I think," the 20-year-old said with a bashful smile. The deployment will be his first since joining the Air Force a year ago.

"Most moms back home talk about their sons working on a farm or in their fathers' garages. I'm going half way around the world."

And it's a world he's never seen before. More than 70 Air Force personnel were slated to make the routine deployment, many among them overseas veterans who have been a part of the squadron's six previous missions to Southwest Asia since Jan. 25, 1993, in support of Operation Southern Watch.

After takeoff last night, the Galaxy was scheduled to fly seven hours to Gander, Newfoundland, for gas before continuing on another eight hours with an overnight stop in Italy. From there, the plane heads southeast eight hours to Camp Doha, Kuwait.

Team 66 will be supporting combat search-and-rescue operations for the troops piloting enforcement sorties over the no-fly zone in Iraq.

Unlike the emotional Feb. 10 deployment when troops left the base amid fears of possible American air raids on Iraq that have since been quelled, Nellis' airmen and the Travis Air Force Base crew in from California to transport them were taking their task in stride.

"Our mission with the Air Mobility Command is to be ready 24 hours a day to assist those people needing airlift around the world, and we're proud to do it," said Staff Sgt. Ryan Senate, 25, an Air Force Reservist based at Travis.

The mission for Ryan and his fellow air crew will last but eight days, seeing to it that 100,000 pounds of Nellis defense -- three HH60G helicopters, gear, food and personnel -- make it safely to Camp Doha.

"A big part of what we're doing is training, and there's a lot of evaluation going on right now," said Tech. Sgt. Bill Travers during the 30 minutes it took the crew to haul gear aboard the 374,000-pound C-5 transport, the Air Force's largest cargo craft.

"Much of what we're doing is taught in the classroom and then on a simulator. A deployment like this lets (the crew) actually do the job, do it right, and do it safely. We have a timeline to get off the ground, and along the way everyone's learning, not just the three students we have with us. When you think of all the parts, the avionics, the hydraulics, the cargo doors, the flight controls, all those systems -- there is so much to know."

Almost 100 olive-drab canvas bags were packed in amongst a few bicycles the airmen will use as transport at Doha and the three 10-year-old charcoal-colored helicopters -- the most maneuverable craft for the rescue squadron's job.

A pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer and para-rescue medic make up the four-man helicopter team which typically rescues downed pilots from hostile areas.

The fast, powerful HH-60G can hold as many as 14 people, but usually only carries between two to four survivors. It also has enough weaponry aboard to protect the crew in a conflict.

And whether this team will see any conflict remains to be seen.

Steenwyk boarded the behemoth gray transport, his head filled with the horror stories -- "that it's 135 degrees in the shade over there, 70 percent humidity, a desert by the sea." But it was appreciation, not fear, that came up when asked about his military duty.

"I joined the Air Force to get an edge on life, to see the world. It's opened my eyes about so many things," Steenwyk said. "It will be difficult working conditions over there, and it will be a little more tense, but I'm ready."