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Significant Upgrade
The SSU is a significant upgrade to the legacy S-3B. Because of intensive training, we had two pilots and six NFOs who were fully qualified on the jet's system when we received it. The SSU worked as advertised, highlighted by the successful utilization of the jet's datalink. The admiral in his stateroom could look at exactly the same things we were monitoring in the jet while airborne. It was real-time video and a secure voice communications line. We worked closely with the command structure on the ship, receiving airborne retasking to focus on areas of interest.
— Lt. Cmdr. Halsey Keats
 SSU Learning Curve
The Navy had only one SSU aircraft. We trained the crews on the fly. We integrated ninety percent of our aircrew into the mission by the middle of the cruise, even though the learning curve was pretty steep.
— Lt. Cmdr. Halsey Keats
Trial By Fire
We didn't receive the SSU S-3 until we were already in the Gulf. The aircraft arrived only thirteen days after the test program concluded. It quickly became the primary choice for aerial surveillance in the theater. We put a lot of highway miles on that jet—565 hours in a little over five months.
— Lt. Cmdr. Tom Davis
Ground Station Datalink
The SSU was operational by 15 April and proved to be such an asset to the troops on the ground that the ground station deployment was requested on 10 June. Our guys were pumping data right into CJTFHQ in Baghdad. The actual ground station fits on a table. It has a radar antenna and is run by two laptops. With its boxes, it takes up about one pallet to transport. We were a multibranch asset: We were monitoring safe houses for the SEALs, providing real-time video of ground troop operations for the Army, locating convoys of personnel fleeing Iraq for the Marines, and providing SAR-generated target-quality coordinates to the F/A-18s.
— Cmdr. Keff Carter
 Jessica Lynch
We supported the Jessica Lynch rescue. We took the special forces guys in. We originally planned to use troop seats, but then they asked us to take them out and more people were added. We just strapped the troops to the floor.
— Maj. John Church
Million Words
If a picture is worth a 1,000 words in the targeting business, a video is worth a million.
— Lt. Cmdr. Tom Davis
Changes In Attitudes
People seemed to recover quickly once we left the theater. Their attitudes would change dramatically when they knew they were getting out of there. Just this change in attitude can speed a recovery.
— Maj. Tom Hanson
Medevac Restrictions
We were sometimes surprised by medical evacuation sorties. The patients can be affected by altitude, so we might have to fly lower than normal. When that happened, we needed more fuel. The load was sometimes a surprise. We took a team of forensics guys that was bringing DNA samples of some of the Iraqi leadership back to Dover. We had Marine guards with fully loaded weapons on that flight.
— Capt. Paul Szweda
Scroll Work
The most unusual thing we had to load was a refrigerator truck. As it was told to me, in the rush to capture Baghdad, an Iraqi had thrown an ancient Israeli scroll into a pool of water near one of the palaces. Some US engineer came in and built an aquarium around it and froze it so the scroll would not deteriorate any further. They loaded the aquarium on this refrigerator truck to return the scroll to its rightful owner.
— SMSgt. Clinton Foster
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