Fighter wing deploys to wild, wild west

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Tom Talbert
  • 442nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
GILA BEND AIR FORCE AUXILIARY FIELD, Ariz. --  From the ground, the Barry M. Goldwater Range looks like you've been transported to the set of a 1960's Clint Eastwood spaghetti western.

The air is dry enough to taste and the ground barely sprouts an occasional cactus. The mind can only envision what creepy kinds of scorpions slither along these barren sands near Gila Bend, Ariz.

Home for rattlesnakes, Gila monsters, road runners, some endangered antelope and, more recently, a target for many of the 442nd Fighter Wing's bombs in an operation fittingly called Patriot Rattlesnake.

The range is more than 1.7 million acres of relatively undisturbed Sonoran Desert in southwest Arizona some 40 miles north of the Mexican border. According to many of the 303rd Fighter Squadron's pilots, it is one of the best places in the continental United States to practice their craft.

"The training environment is truly phenomenal," said Lt. Col. Paul Caulwell, 303rd Fighter Squadron. "The desert floor and the mountains enable us to drop ordnance we don't normally get to use on sorties back home."

The type of maneuvers Colonel Caulwell referred to were difficult ridge crossings, simulated air-to-air combat with F-16s from nearby Lake Air Force Base and shooting live rockets - things only possible because of the immense size of the range and its miles of overhead airspace.

"We're required to do live weapons drops once a year anyway," Colonel Caulwell said. "The flying, the live drops, the different air space makes for a great flying environment all the way around."

According to Teresa Walker, Public Affairs Specialist with the 56th Fighter Wing's Range Management Office at Luke AFB, it's a popular location for military aviators.

"Nearly every pilot in the military at one time or another does a portion of their training here at Barry M. Goldwater Range," Ms. Walker said. "More than 50 aircraft may operate simultaneously on the range while performing many independent training operations."

While pilots of the 303rd Fighter Squadron were blasting, bombing and strafing targets on this barren desert ground, Senior Airman Stephanie Couch, a munitions systems technician with the 442nd Maintenance Squadron's munitions flight was back at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, near Tucson, experiencing her first annual tour building bombs.
"It's been a real learning experience for me," Airman Crouch said. "I've never dealt with live munitions until now. I've had a fun time learning my job - everyone is so helpful in teaching me."

The Arizona exercise, as with any military training had lessons for everyone.

"This is real experience for our younger troops, getting to pack up and work in a different environment in which you're not familiar," said Tech. Sgt. Brad Fidlar, 442nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron A-10 crew chief. "This is always great training and great preparation for an overseas deployment."

Fidler says the desert training also presents new challenges.

"The environment is dry and there's a 40-degree difference between day and night,'' he said. "Seals expand and contract giving you different kinds of maintenance problems and my job depends on what breaks."

For Tech. Sgt. Michael Estrada, a loader for the 442nd AMXS, the Arizona desert's winter climate and lack of humidity affected his endurance.

"The weather is much dryer, but it's cool too, which has a physical effect on you," Sergeant Estrada said. "Since you aren't perspiring you don't realize you're dehydrating. If you forget to drink water, your mouth starts to get dry and you start to make mistakes. You get nose bleeds and you have to apply lots of sun screen and moisturizer."

Despite the climactic concerns, Colonel Caulwell summed up the entire exercise with precision.

"It's nice to have a real desert environment to train in and at the end of the day, getting to go to downtown Tucson and eat instead of the chow hall - well you can't beat it," he said.