About 40 Air National Guard members from the 185th Air Refueling Wing based in Sioux City, Iowa, deployed to NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen, Germany, in February to support the NATO AWACS mission. NATO AWACS E-3A aircraft fly airborne command and control missions for counter-ISIS operations over Iraq and Syria, Eastern European surveillance, and Mediterranean maritime operations. The 185th ARW group is one component of a rotating ANG force that supports the NATO mission with refueling flights. “This has always been a very successful partnership,” said Royal Netherlands Air Force Capt. Andre Bongers, a Geilenkirchen spokesman, according to a press release. “During 40 weeks per year the Air Guard provides essential training to the NATO E-3A component. This is vital because pilots at the E-3A component normally stay around for only four years.” The Iowa ANG group will complete their tour at the end of the week and will be succeeded by members of an ANG unit from Topeka, Kan.
Biden: ‘It’s Time to End the Forever War’
April 14, 2021
The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan will begin on May 1 and finish before the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to allow the American military time to focus more on global terror and increasing threats from China, President Joe Biden said. During a March 14 address formally announcing…