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An Able Workhorse
The C-141 is an able workhorse and a steady platform. We handled a large number of patients—seventy-five or so on each flight. We often flew with a medical crew of seven people. We would normally carry twenty-four to twenty-six litters and the rest would be ambulatory patients. The C-141 does the job. The load varied a bit. At the start, we transported small numbers, but most needed critical care. Later, we transported up to ninety-four patients, but the total never got to 107, which is the maximum for the C-141.
— Maj. Tom Hanson
 52nd Fighter Wing Background
Spangdahlem crews flew 888 combat sorties for a total of 5,400 hours for an average of about six hours per mission. These totals also include SWA sorties that were flown prior to OIF. The unit's pilots fired ninety-four AGM-88 HARMs, dropped ninety-two JDAMs and sixty-two WCMDs, and had four strafing employments, all in OIF. The wing sent fifty-five pilots along with maintenance and support personnel. The unit had a mission-capable rate of 100 percent. Spangdahlem was in theater from January to May 2003 and flew OIF sorties every day of the war from approximately 20 March.
Freedom Doughnuts
When we were not over Iraq, we were tasked to do what we called Doughnut of Freedom missions. We flew circles in our P-3s around the carrier battle group and checked out and chased away any threats.
— Lt. (j.g.) Samantha Poteete
Night Carrier
We were the night carrier, and our duty day was from six in the evening until noon the next day. Our average sortie was about 2.75 hours, and we flew about twenty-five percent of all the air wing's sorties. We helped generate 250 strike sorties that wouldn't have happened without us there to give gas. We passed 1.7 million gallons of gas during the war.
— Cmdr. Steve Kelly
Retargeted Inflight
Although I dropped on only one mission, it was one of the more interesting missions for an F-117. The mission was the first time an F-117 was retargeted in flight during the war. We took off from alert status to hit a particular target. We reached the tanker and were getting ready to push into Iraq. The next thing we knew, command and control came over the radio and redirected us to a new target. We got new coordinates, a description, and a time on target. We didn't have a picture of the target, just a verbal description. I think that was the first time an F-117 hit anything without a photo of the target. The mission demonstrated that the airplane has some flexibility.
— Capt. Alex Jernigan
First Combination Targeting Pod And HTS Mission
We sent a four-ship to several potential SAM locations in what was the first dedicated mission for an F-16CJ formation equipped with both targeting pods and HTS. The SAM sites were, for the most part, not radiating. So, we were directed to some triple-A installations. We found Iraqi forces getting in a truck when we arrived. I hit that truck with a GBU-12, and then I hit three S-60s [Soviet-designed 57-mm antiaircraft guns] with the other LGBs. I passed coordinates of some other nearby targets to the other members of my flight, and they hit them with JDAMs. In the end, the mission incorporated SEAD, DEAD, and TST.
— Maj. Boris Armstrong
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