As tensions with Iraq mount, Nellis is set for duty

Karen Zekan

Tuesday, Feb. 10, 1998 | 10:08 a.m.

They're packed, prepared, and ready to go to war.

The only question now is if today will actually see Nellis Air Force Base's 66th Rescue Squadron take off for duty overseas as the U.S. prepares for possible air raids on Iraq.

The Air Force would not officially comment on why Monday's 8 p.m. departure was tentatively rescheduled for 1 p.m. today.

The extra hours seemed only to intensify the adrenaline on the air field last night as crews finalized packing and looked forward to one more night home with loved ones, who some have been with only three months since their last deployment.

"They're fired up," Lt. Col. C.W. "Mac" McCausland said of those issued deployment orders Saturday. "They're sad to leave their families, but they've got a lot of support. They are ready to do their job."

McCausland, an Air Force Academy graduate and 19-year veteran, will pilot one of two HH-60G Pavehawk helicopters loaded into a mammoth C-5 aircraft Monday night along with weapons, equipment, crew members' baggage and 4,000 pounds of fuel.

The same helicopters were used in Turkey, Panama, and in maintaining the joint combat search and rescue efforts in Operation Southern Watch, the no-fly zone over Iraq.

Military security reasons prevented Staff Sgt. Ed Scott, a base spokesman, from confirming the number of Nellis personnel being deployed. Approximately 350 men and women are attached to the 66th Squadron, the largest combat rescue squadron in the Air Force.

Scott similarly declined to comment on where the Nellis personnel will be based. The duty tour marks Team 66's first unscheduled, and seventh overall, deployment to the Middle East.

The squadron's mission is to rescue downed pilots from hostile areas. They remain on alert 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Their charcoal-colored HH-60Gs are 10 years old, yet remain the most maneuverable craft for the job. Speed, power and exceptional navigational abilities are complemented with enough armament aboard to protect the crew in a conflict and the capability of communicating with anyone in the world.

A pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer and para-rescue medic -- or "PJ" as they're casually termed -- comprise the basic four-man team which can be augmented as the situation dictates.

As many as 14 more people can fit in the HH-60G, yet only two to four survivors -- depending on their injuries -- are carried at a time.

Where other copters require blades to be removed for transport, the HH-60G's blades remain attached and need only be unfolded. McCausland said the record for rolling the 20,000-pound helicopter off a transport like the C5 and into the air, fueled and ready to go, is 26 minutes.

"It's designed from the wheels up to be a combat craft," McCausland said. "Plus, its medium size lets it be more easily loaded and unloaded (on and off the C5). We can respond anywhere in the world in a moment's notice."

The 66th Squadron was first deployed to the Middle East between January and July 1993.

Besides providing worldwide combat rescue, the unit supplies rescue support for air operations over the Nellis Range Complex and backup rescue for civilian agencies in the Southwest.

When orders for the current deployment came out Saturday, "it was a great day to be part of Team 66," McCausland said. "People came in off their leave time, families stopped by as we started packing. We've got a lot of support."