Vermont Air National GuardIn support of Operation Inherent Resolve a squadron of F-16s and 310 Airmen from the 158th Fighter Wing returned home from a three-month long deployment to the CENTCOM AOR. The last of the 310 deployers and jets returned to Vermont Saturday, February 25, 2017.
Operation Inherent Resolve began when a new terrorist group, which had risen during the chaos of the Syrian Civil War attacked across the Syrian-Iraqi borders and seized large swaths of Iraqi territory in the Euphrates River Valley and northern Iraq.Several Iraqi towns fell to the invaders, who called themselves "The Islamic State."
Due to the evolving requirements in Iraq and Syria, the Green Mountain Boys provided precision air-to-ground attack capabilities to support operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. While deployed, the squadron flew over 600 combat missions, which equates to over 4,000 hours in the jets and employed over 800 weapons with 100% of the mission tasking supported to degrade and destroy ISIS.
"I am extremely proud of these 310 American Heroes, all volunteers, who spent the last two plus months taking the fight to the enemy. The Green Mountain Boys are an absolute class act and did a phenomenal job generating, executing and sustaining combat airpower in the fight against ISIS," said Col. David C. Lyons, 407th Air Expeditionary Group commander. "The one accomplishment that says the most about the character of our team during the 134th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron's deployment is the fact that we generated and launched 100%of the sorties tasked to this unit. Milestones like that don't happen without incredible teamwork from every Airman on this installation."
Operation Inherent Resolve is a Combat Joint Task Force tasked to combat the ISIS strong hold in Iraq and Syria. The VTANG flew combat missions in conjunction with coalition forces to deny ISIS safe havens and ensuring ground forces opportunity to conduct localized counter-attacks.
"It's hard to describe the pride we have in not only the members themselves deploying but the families back here who took care of them, but to put it in some terms, they flew over a year's worth of hours in just over two months," said Col. Patrick, 158th Fighter Wing commander, Vermont Air National Guard.
This deployment demonstrates the United States' continued, long-term commitment to the region and the Air National Guard's flexibility to meet the dynamic requirements of warfighting commanders.
Story and photos courtesy VTANG. 2.25.2017