BALTIMORE, Md., - The Maryland Air National Guard aircrew had been flying in Afghanistan for just under two months in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, when they got a call from their drop zone that they were taking enemy fire from the ground.
"As the lead aircraft was dropping their load, we received a call ....," said Maj. Gary Laubach, a C-130J pilot assigned to Maryland Air National Guard's 135th Airlift Squadron. "At the same time, the crew observed tracer fire in front of our aircraft coming from the right side."
On the night of March 2, 2010, Laubach, copilot 1st Lt. Dean Mouritzen and loadmasters Senior Master Sgt. Thomas Kelly and Senior Airman Aja Ledbetter came under attack, they were preparing to airdrop 12,400 pounds of badly needed ammunition, food and water to a forward operating base in southern Afghanistan - a base where Afghan insurgents had attempted to shoot down resupply aircraft in the past.
"The mission was conducted at night because of the known threat in the area, with previous aircraft taking enemy fire," Laubach said. "The ability to fly at night using night vision goggles normally provides some measure of protection from hostile fire, but in this case clear skies and a full moon illuminated the aircraft "like a spotlight."
Despite the tracers rising up at their aircraft, the crew decided to proceed with the drop. As soon as the load had cleared the aircraft, the Maryland C-130J performed a combat escape and "immediately egressed the area."
The drop zone later reported that the load had landed on target.
"After climbing up to a safe altitude, we conducted a battle damage assessment and determined that we had not sustained any damage," Laubach said. The aircraft then returned to its base at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, where maintenance crews gave it a thorough examination before the crew loaded it up for their next mission.
It was during this second a mission of the day that they came under fire from what is believed to have been a surface-to-air missile. The crew immediately reacted to the threat and again escaped harm.
Laubach said training is key to enabling fliers to function effectively in a high-pressure, time-constrained environment. "No matter how much you prepare for the mission, it all boils down to the last 10 minutes, when everything seems to happen at once," he said.
He credited the realistic training Maryland Air Guardsmen conduct here at their home station, Warfield Air National Guard Base, with enabling the crew to focus on carrying out their mission despite the enemy anti-aircraft fire.
"These are exactly the types of missions we train for every day back home," Laubach said. "Although we may touch up on some of the newest techniques being used in the combat theater in the months prior to the deployment, we are ready to go execute the mission anywhere at any time."
Laubach's assessment of the importance of stateside training was echoed by one of his counterparts from the 104th Fighter Squadron, another unit of the Maryland Air National Guard. The 104th's A-10Cs were deployed to Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, at the same time the 135th's C-130Js were flying missions out of Bagram.
Maj. Drew Dougherty was flying a night sortie in support of U.S. ground forces about 20 miles west of Kandahar, when he was called upon to bomb a structure being used to manufacture improvised explosive devices - commonly referred to as IEDs.
Friendly forces had captured several insurgents and identified a building being used as a bomb factory, but they were concerned that the building might be booby trapped and requested an airstrike to demolish it.
"Our training and preparation prior to the 104 FS deployment was very helpful in successfully destroying the target," Dougherty said. "In the six months leading up to our deployment, we consistently flew and trained with a simulated weapons load that mirrored what we would be flying while deployed in support of OEF."
Dougherty explained that because the new A-10C has the ability to load a training profile that simulates flying with live munitions, he and the other Maryland fighter pilots were able to constantly practice making ground attacks by doing dry passes at targets in training ranges close to their home station here.
This allowed pilots to repeatedly practice working through the myriad decisions and judgments that go into weapon release, including selecting the best weapon to use based on the type of target, predicting how winds aloft would affect the flight path of the bomb, generating target coordinates and estimating how much collateral damage might be caused.
"So when it came time to drop in combat, we were able to fall back on this training, answer all these questions quickly and correctly, and employ successfully," Dougherty said. "The desire to destroy the target with the correct weapon, in a timely fashion, minimizing collateral damage, with no friendly or civilian casualties was always paramount."
The 104th was fully successful, said Brig. Gen. Guy M. Walsh, commander of the 451st Air Expeditionary Wing, the unit under which the 104th fell while deployed. The squadron had no incidents of fratricide or civilian casualties during its three months fighting in Afghanistan.