40th AS warriors return from another successful deployment

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  • By 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
109 Airmen and four C-130s from the 40th Airlift Squadron returned Oct. 20 from a four-month deployment to Southwest Asia in support of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom and the Horn of Africa.

The "Screaming Eagles" are part of Dyess' tenant unit, the 317th Airlift Group, Air Mobility Command's premiere tactical airlift group. The group's two flying squadrons, the 39th and 40th, together with their accompanying maintainers and crew members, alternate deployments approximately every 120 days and are among the Air Force's busiest flying groups. 

Lt. Col. Buff Burkel, 40th Airlift Squadron commander, said she was glad to see the 40th's warriors safely back home from yet another history-making deployment.

The 317th has been continuously deployed since Dec. 2003 "to provide all phases of combat delivery, air-land, airdrop, airlift maintenance and recovery, operations support and deployable air mobility command and control," according to Wikipedia.