HOMECOMING

From Page 6 the quiet men on board and helped them with their seats while Air Force nurses did what they could to make the men comfortable. Oddly, the released prisoners did not say much. They did not shout for joy or otherwise express themselves in celebration; but they remained stoic and tried to hide the fear they had lived with for years while in captivity Were they really going home?

After years of torture, starvation, and nightmares, was the Democratic Republic of Vietnam simply going to let them go or was this yet another trick to break their resolve?

The crew of the C-141, now known as the Hanoi Taxi, had the same thoughts. After years of fighting each other, was this a trick? Were the North Vietnamese going to let the C-141 fly off or were the Communist forces going to shoot them down?

With bated breath, the C-141 taxied down the runway in Hanoi and climbed in altitude. When the aircraft reached what was thought to be a safe distance, a great roar thundered through the cabin as the American POWs erupted in cheers, dances, and tears of joy.

Yes, they were going home. America had not forgotten.

Moments after the Hanoi Taxi took off, a 62d MAW C-141 (50243) touched down at the small airstrip in Vietnam and loaded 116 more American POWs Several returnees paused at the bottom of the loading ramp to salute the U.S. flag on the tail of the aircraft. They stood at their seats until the last man came aboard before they all sat down.

As before, the returnees were stoic, but as soon as the aircraft lifted off, the mood changed and the men broke that sparked his interest in starting an art collection.

“What makes me so passionate is how noble of a craft it is,” he said. “You’re doing it with your own hands, you’re creating it. Owning that piece [of art] is so special because it doesn’t exist anywhere else in this world.”

Throughout Pace’s military career, he has had several overseas assignments, being stationed in Turkey, Guam, England and Japan. Pace embraced the change as an opportunity to experience different cultures, finding their stories through their art.

Collecting art became a way for Pace to connect and embrace his journey through the military For each location he visits or is stationed, he collects a new piece to remind himself of the culture that he’d experienced.

Pace even incorporated his passion into his work as a metals technician, putting the same dedication into each project as an artist would in their work.

“Each component I create [for the KC-135] is uniquely vital to our success, so I put all I’ve got into its development,” said Pace. “I treat each project, each component like a piece of art, like that one piece is telling my story as a technician.” cheer. The first thing the men asked for was coffee cigarettes and it did not take long before the crew was up in their spirit of joy.

Pace’s passion for art has allowed him to better connect with his military journey and the cultures of which he’s been intertwined. He takes the precision and dedication that he’s learned as an artist and puts it into his career as a metals technician, utilizing every project as an opportunity to grow and develop as a craftsman.

Before landing in Clark AB, one of the crewmembers discovered a stowaway one of the returnees had smuggled aboard – a puppy. Like the returnees, the puppy received medical attention at Clark AB before it was returned to the returnee lighting challenges Airmen experience when executing the global air mobility mission. AMC leadership challenged participants to develop sustainable, scalable solutions and leverage existing infrastructure to close four capability gaps: command and control, navigation, maneuver under fire, and tempo.

On February 12, a total of three aircraft from the 63d, 62d, and 60th Military Airlift Wings airlifted American POWs from Hanoi to Clark AB, where approximately a thousand people gathered to welcome the returnees. Even more turned out a various Air Force bases stateside, including McChord Air Force Base, to welcome the men home.

From February to April 1973, mobility forces repatriated 591 American POWs from Hanoi back to the United States including U.S. Army Col. Floyd James Thompson and U.S. Naval aviator John McCain.

America celebrated the return of their heroes and, for a moment, the pain and controversy of the conflict in Vietnam was washed away and replaced by welcome home banners and balloons. This operation would become better known as Operation HOMECOMING.

Today, the 62d Airlift Wing continues to bring home American heroes who fought in WWII, the Korean War and in Vietnam While these homecomings are more somber, it is a testament to the belief that no one is left behind.

“We need the capability to be lighter, leaner, faster and multi-capable,” said Maj. Gen. John Klein, USAFEC commander. “The Airmen are the magic they should not have to work so hard to bring that magic day in and day out. Our responsibility as leaders is to organize, train and equip our Airmen so they can bring swift success on the battlefield. This is why we need your help.”

AMC must be capable of executing its mission in contested environment with the minimum amount of equipment and personnel. According to Klein, the command must maintain the agility needed to support the joint force scheme of maneuver and become “multi- capable” in order to cover capability gaps and assist joint partners complete tasks with which they have limited familiarity.

Klein stated command and control of the global air mobility support system, or GAMSS, is his number one priority. Expeditionary Airmen will ultimately become a high demand, low density asset in a peer conflict.

“There is no airpower without air mobility, and there is no air mobility without air mobility support. This is what gives America its global reach. We have the ability to create mobility nodes where they don’t currently exist,”

Klein said. “Logistics wins wars.”

AMC’s GAMSS will be the primary joint force maneuver system in areas of operation like the Pacific, where a NATO-like, combined capability partnership does not currently exist, according to Minihan.

The Pacific presents the tyranny of distance, or vast stretches of ocean between likely forward operating locations, with many of them located in the first island chain, which Minihan identifies as the most critical area of suc- cess in the contested environment.

“There are critical gaps in the capability and capacity required to fight and win inside [it],” Minihan said.

To be effective beyond the first island chain, mobility operations must close the critical gaps and will require flexible solutions.

Industry partner solutions will be presented at the Airlift/Tanker Association Industry Interface Day during the A/TA Symposium scheduled for November 2023

During their three-day training mission in Roswell, they not only practiced their approaches and departures, but worked with intelligence cadre. Students performed hands-on training and gained perspective as the aggressor using simulated manportable air defense [missile] systems (MANPADS). Using this training and newly gained perspectives, students are then assessed on the procedures they would use to mitigate threats.

“This first-hand experience lends tremendous credibility to graduates when briefing leadership on expected courses of action or when teaching aircrews tactical maneuvers,” said Lt Col James Lamb, 509th WPS Assistant Director Operations “In addition to being graded on the ability to fly their TADs, the students are also expected to take sufficient notes to effectively reconstruct the sortie, analyze the mission objectives, debrief the mission, and produce instructional fixes for areas which did not meet mission objectives.”

The weapons instructor course is roughly 23 weeks long and contains over 400 hours of academic instruction, during which the student will plan and execute flying and ground missions to gain experience in tactical planning and execution. The graduates of this course are tasked with enhancing the overall tactical knowledge of the tanker force to maximize the Department of the Air Force’s offensive posture.

“The training we receive at the Weapons School is vastly different from standard KC-135 training as our flying is focused on operating the aircraft at it’s extremes,” said Capt. Chris Perkins, 92nd Air Refueling Squadron pilot. “The training we undergo at the Weapons School revolves around employing the aircraft in high threat combat environments. At the end of each phase, we are expected to not only execute, but demonstrate the ability to teach these concepts.”

The Weapons Instructor Course and Advanced Instructor Course graduates use their experiences to maximize combat effectiveness when integrating tankers into operational planning for current and future conflicts, solidifying air mobility’s state of readiness for all global operations