Airpower to Protect Iraq Security Gains as Forces Withdraw from Cities

(Source: U.S Air Force; issued June 18, 2009)

WASHINGTON --- As U.S. forces in Iraq prepare to pull back from most major cities by June 30, U.S. air support will continue to enable and protect security gains made over the past two years, a U.S. commander said in a "DoDLive" bloggers roundtable June 17.

Col. Michael Fantini, commander of the 332nd Expeditionary Operations Group, oversees a spectrum of air support missions that include non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, security operations support, high-end precision engagement, airlift of passengers and cargo and combat search and rescue. His team is in charge of MQ-1 Predator and MC-12 Liberty surveillance flights, among others.

With U.S. forces repositioning in accordance with Iraqi requests and an improved security environment in urban areas, air support remains a key enabler of continued security, Colonel Fantini said.

"I guess things are not necessarily at a lower operations tempo; they're at a lower kinetic tempo," he said, meaning fewer combat operations are taking place. "We are still providing non-traditional intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance [and] traditional Predator ISR, and now we're utilizing the MC-12, all to provide that support to the ground force while the ground force is transitioning out of the cities."

Colonel Fantini described commanders' view of the Iraq situation as one of cautious optimism.

"We need to still be wary. It's still a dangerous environment that can turn relatively quickly," he said. However, he noted, "The fact that we see the lack of kinetic ops, the fact that we see a huge decrease in attacks, is all part of that. In the air power, we enable that every day by providing that support to the ground force."

Part of the long-term U.S. air mission is training the Iraqi air force and lending intelligence support to Iraqi-led combat missions. Colonel Fantini works through the Coalition Air Force Transition Training Team as a liaison between coalition forces and the Iraqi military, bridging the gap between subject matter experts and training engagements.

"What I do to enable that is cross-talk with that organization," Colonel Fantini said, with a goal of enabling the Iraqi forces to, "continue to take on more and more of their security responsibility."

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US Troops Withdraw from Iraqi Cities

(Source: US Air Force; issued June 30, 2009)

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq --- Under the Security Agreement signed between Washington, D.C., and Baghdad, Iraq, officials in November 2008, U.S. servicemembers are to withdraw from Iraqi cities, villages and localities by June 30.

As a result of the agreement, some servicemembers are moving onto main installations such as Sather Air Base, Iraq, and Joint Base Balad.

With the start of the withdrawal from urban areas in progress, Joint Base Balad is capable and ready for the influx of servicemembers and equipment, said Col. Sal Nodjomian, the 332nd Expeditionary Mission Support Group commander.

"Joint Base Balad is perfectly situated for this withdrawal, both geographically as well as in capacity," he said. "We are centrally located in north-central Iraq, and we have outstanding facilities and infrastructure and are capable of taking on new mission sets."

The colonel, a northern Virginia native deployed from the Pentagon, said Joint Base Balad officials expected the drawdown and started planning for it months ago.

"We came up with our own forward-operating-base collapse plan where we started analyzing all of our systems: water, electrical, power generation, dining-facility capability and billeting; all of the important items required for base-life support, and we recognized ... we are in a position where we can take on a significant amount of new missions without having any degradation to our own mission," Colonel Nodjomian said.

Overall, Airmen here have been assisting with the drawdown throughout the region and performing missions to decrease the overall footprint of forces in Iraq.

For example, the 732nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron Construction Team 6, based at Joint Base Balad, has assisted in closing down three FOBs so far in the Diyala and Salah ad Din provinces, said Capt. Matthew Albers, the 732nd ECES CT 6 chief of operations.

"We are supporting the Army by disconnecting their assets to be redistributed to other locations in Iraq or, in some cases, Afghanistan," Captain Albers said.

"Additionally, we are constructing Southwest Asia huts throughout the region, which are simple semi-permanent wooden buildings that can be used as billeting or work space to temporarily house Army units as they transition out of the cities in preparation for the drawdown and redeployment to other areas," said the Houston native deployed from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.

"This mission has certainly been effective," he continued. "In our region, we have directly supported the withdrawal of several thousand Soldiers from local cities."

Logistically, the captain said the process can get chaotic at times when the team is trying to schedule closure of facilities and support construction of temporary replacement facilities at the same time.

"For example, you may close one (dining facility) down at breakfast and transport its generator to a different installation to power up the (dining facility) you finished building the night before so that the new (dining facility) can be open for lunch, ensuring no Soldier misses a meal," Captain Albers said. "There is always a lot of coordination and hard work involved, but our Airmen do an outstanding job of making the process as seamless as possible."

As for Joint Base Balad, installation officials are ready for the influx of servicemembers and assets associated with the June 30 withdrawal and ready to take on new challenges.

"By executing Joint Base Balad's (forward operating base) collapse plan, I think we are right where we need to be in terms of the Security Agreement," Colonel Nodjomian said. "We are getting out of the cities and getting back into a much smaller footprint while still maintaining our operational capability, but also honoring the agreement that was made between (the U.S. and Iraq)."

However, Joint Base Balad is not the only main installation affected. Sather AB in Baghdad is undergoing construction projects to create more housing and work space for the servicemembers moving out of inner cities, the international zone and forward operating bases. In particular, the 10th Combat Support Hospital is being relocated from the international zone to Sather AB in accordance with the Security Agreement.

"The IZ is being handed over to the Iraqis and the 10th CSH is moving out of there to come here (Sather)," said Army Chief Warrant Officer Mohammed Badal, the 10th CSH facilities manager.

The 10th CSH is a level-3 medical facility that has surgical care, which is a capability Sather does not have, said Chief Badal, who is a native of New York City deployed to Sather AB from Fort Carson, Colo.

As a result, the 819th Expeditionary RED HORSE Squadron staff is building more facilities to house the influx of troops and medical equipment.

"With the reduction of battlefield injuries, the 10th CSH is reducing its manpower by 33 percent and the other 67 percent is being moved out of the IZ to Sather," Chief Badal said.

Ultimately, once the facilities are built by the 819th ERHS Airmen, the 10th CSH will be able to continue level-3 medical care to support Baghdad and its surrounding areas, he added.

"I see the drawdown as a positive outlook for servicemembers and the Iraqi people, because it is another step forward in turning the country over to them," Chief Badal said. "It's another step that shows us that we may be going home soon, and it shows the country of Iraq is becoming more stable."

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American commander: US on the road out of Iraq

Associated Press
August 30, 2009

BAGHDAD – The U.S. military is packing up to leave Iraq in what has been deemed the largest movement of manpower and equipment in modern military history — shipping out more than 1.5 million pieces of equipment from tanks to antennas along with a force the size of a small city.

The massive operation already under way a year ahead of the Aug. 31, 2010 deadline to remove all U.S. combat troops from Iraq shows the U.S. military has picked up the pace of a planned exit from Iraq that could cost billions.

The goal is to withdraw tens of thousands of troops and about 60 percent of equipment out of Iraq by the end of next March, Brig. Gen. Heidi Brown, a deputy commander charged with overseeing the withdrawal, told The Associated Press in one of the first detailed accounts of how the U.S. military plans to leave Iraq.

Convoys carrying everything from armored trucks to radios have been rolling near daily through southern Iraq to Kuwait and the western desert to Jordan since President Barack Obama announced the deadline to remove combat troops, leaving up to 50,000 troops under a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement until the end of 2011.

First out, Brown said, will be the early withdrawal of an Army combat brigade of about 5,000. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said a brigade would leave by the end of the year, months ahead of schedule, if violence in Iraq did not escalate beyond current levels.

That will be followed by the Marine Corps, which has already shipped out about half of its 22,000 troops and more than 50 percent of its equipment since May.

"In about six months or less, they will be gone," she said.

The U.S. military also plans to shrink the contractor force from roughly 130,000 to between 50,000 and 75,000 by September 2010. Those remaining would pick up additional duties from departing troops, Brown said.

The nearly 300 American bases and outposts currently remaining in Iraq will shrink to 50 or less by the president's deadline, Brown said.

The Al Faw Palace in Baghdad, which serves as the U.S. military headquarters, is among U.S. operations expected to be turned over to the Iraqis, she said.

The price tag to move the American force has not been fully calculated by the Pentagon because it was not immediately clear how much equipment would be returned to the United States, donated to the Iraqis or shipped to Afghanistan, according to officials.

However, the independent Government Accountability Office reported to Congress earlier this year that the withdrawal would be a "massive and expensive effort" that would likely increase war costs by billions. It also estimated an additional $12 billion to $13 billion a year would be needed for two years following the withdrawal for maintenance, repairs and replacement of equipment returned from Iraq.

Not since Vietnam has the U.S. withdrawn so many troops and so much equipment with a looming deadline.

The military anticipates keeping the majority of its 130,000 combat troops currently in Iraq until nearly two months after the Jan. 16 national elections, then rapidly drawing down troops and equipment in the weeks that follow.

"We would stay steady with troop strength until after the election plus 60 days," Brown said. "You don't know who will win the government and how long it will take to seat the government."

The plan was based on orders by Gen. Raymond Odierno — the top commander in Iraq who used a similar approach following this year's provincial elections. Odierno waited 60 days after balloting to make decisions about future movement, and shifting American soldiers south to Basra to replace the departing Brits.

Brown said the phased withdrawal of troops and equipment could be halted at any time, if, for example, the Iraqi government asks U.S. troops to stay longer due to a resurgence in violence.

One of the biggest challenges is moving the millions of tons of equipment.

"The easiest thing to move is the troops. You put them on a plane and ship them out. The heavy stuff is going to be the hard stuff," said Tim Brown, an intelligence and military analyst at GlobalSecurity.org, which follows security and defense issues. "They have been planning this for several years ... and it is probably still overwhelming."

The military has identified more than 1.5 million pieces of equipment, from tanks to antennas, that need to be shipped out of Iraq, Brown said.

Under the plan, much of that equipment would go by ground to Kuwait, 330 miles (530 kilometers) south of Baghdad, and to Jordan's Aqaba port, more than 500 miles (800 kilometers) southwest of Baghdad, where it would either be shipped back to the states or sent to troops in Afghanistan, Brown said. Some will likely go through Turkey as well.

"We are going to use every means necessary: air, Iraqi railroad, the roads. Whatever it takes," Brown said.

The U.S. has already begun donating items, such as blast walls, desks, televisions and air conditioners, that it considered too costly to move. Up to $15 million of such equipment per base closure can be handed over to the Iraqis, Brown said.

No decision has been made about whether the U.S. will donate any of it military equipment, she said.


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