Airmen help provide Iraq’s new air force a place to call home

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Will Ackerman
  • 447th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
Iraq’s new air force flying operations have received much publicity recently. But a military must have a base to call home. A team of Airmen spent more than a year helping the Iraqi air force establish its “only” base with a support unit.

About a year ago, the New Al Muthana Air Base was just a shell.

The base, about eight miles southwest of Baghdad and adjacent to Baghdad International Airport, had an old aircraft hangar that suffered substantial damage from the coalition war against the old regime.

But like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the American Airmen helped their Iraqi partners raise the new air base from the ground up. The Iraqi Ministry of Defense formally stood up the new air base and its C-130 Hercules unit, the 23rd Squadron, in a ceremony March 7.

“The place was just a construction site,” said Capt. Greg Holmgren, Multinational
Security Transition Command Iraq, Coalition Air Force Transition Team base defense
adviser. “One of the greatest things about coming here when the place was torn up has been watching the place develop.”

Although civilian contractors built facilities including dormitories, operations offices and a dining facility, Airmen trained the Iraqis about mission support functions including communications, security forces, civil engineering, contract monitoring and unit administration.

Col. Richard Haddad, the senior transition team director here, said those folks spend unlimited time trying to get the Iraqi airmen to understand the way a base should be run.

For both the flying and base support operations, communication equipment is critical.

As a U.S. communications adviser here, Staff Sgt. Timothy Ragel has helped the Iraqi airmen plan and start to build their communications infrastructure.

“Most Iraqis talk on wireless phones, because (landline) infrastructure is just not here in Iraq,” he said.

He’s also trained them in basic communication skills such as computers, tactical radios, hardware switches and routers. Although the United States gave the Iraqi airmen some computers to get started, not everyone will initially have a computer.

“The biggest challenge is getting them up to speed with technology,” Sergeant Ragel said.

Although the American civil engineers have not built the buildings that make up the new air base, they are teaching the Iraqi airmen to ensure the contractors’ work is up to acceptable building standards. But the main focus now is teaching the Iraqis how to maintain the new facilities.

“The key is finding the right people with the right expertise and the right tools to (maintain the facilities) in a safe way,” said Master Sgt. Carlos Aponte.

“Right now the (Iraqi airmen) are relying on the contractors. I am trying to make them realize the buildings will need maintaining,” he said.

To ensure the security of the new air base, Captain Holmgren teaches the Iraqis how to protect it. He’s helped them establish and operate an armory and run a security forces flight plus he taught them different base defense skills.

“The safety and security is critical to this base,” he said. “We want to put them on their feet so they can ensure positive security once we are gone.”

Captain Holmgren said they’ve also had to instill a paradigm shift from the old Iraqi regime.

“Many of them were used to the old way, when they wouldn’t do anything without being told to do it,” he said. “I am teaching the NCOs to take initiative and make decisions.”

The U.S. Airmen realize they are making history and new friends.

The 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing commander at Balad Air Base, Iraq, recently put their work into perspective.

“You guys are ‘pioneers,’” said Brig. Gen. Frank Gorenc during a recent visit.

Shifting old paradigms and building a new air force is the mission of this team. But they are also building partners in peace and new friendships.

The New Al Muthana Air Base vice commander said the biggest challenge is “trust.”

“If you succeed with the trust, then you can make anything happen,” Colonel Mohammed said.

“There is a unique relationship between the (U.S. Airmen) and the (Iraqi airmen). They are like family. It does not feel like work.”