Home again! 300 return from Iraq; pilots flew 1,800 missions

Jonathan Schwartz missed one of his three daughters' birthdays and another's first day of kindergarten.

Patrick McManaman's 18-month-old boy learned to walk and talk since last August, when McManaman, Schwartz and about 300 members of Hill Air Force Base's 388th and 419th fighter wings deployed to Balad Air Base in Iraq.

On Tuesday they came home.

As part of the 4th Fighter Squadron, F-16 pilots from the Hill group known as the "Fightin' Fuujins" flew about 1,800 combat missions over the course of 8,000 hours in the air, the most of any F-16 unit during a rotational deployment to Balad, Hill officials said. Their deployment came during the height of the troop surge in Iraq.

The commander of the 388th, Col. Scott Dennis, told a crowd of waiting families and friends that the troop deaths in Iraq have been trending downward.

"It's due a lot to the folks coming home today," Dennis said.

As of this week there have been 3,911 Iraq war military fatalities since 2003, according to www.icasualties.org, which relies on data from the Department of Defense. The Web site's breakdown of deaths by branch of service shows nearly 2,800 casualties coming from the Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve. The Air Force is reporting 42 Iraq war deaths with the Air National Guard listing two war fatalities since 2003.

The total coming home this week was about 300, which almost matches the number who left Dec. 29, 2007, for at least a 120-day deployment to the region as part of what Hill called the "Air and Space Expeditionary Force" rotation. Those who left two weeks ago are members of Hill's active duty 388th and reserve 419th fighter wings, whose mission will be to help out with "close air" support missions to protect ground forces.

Last year, the deadliest on record in Iraq for troops with Utah ties, Hill lost an airman in June, and in January three airmen who were members of the base's 775th Civil Engineer Squadron's Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Flight were killed in an explosion in Iraq.

No one from the Hill group returning Tuesday was injured or killed in Iraq.

Ashley LeProhon and her husband, Paul, have been married two years, almost as long as he's been in the Air Force. This was his first deployment.

"It was hard for me, because I had no family here," Ashley said about being away from her husband. Phone calls and e-mails had to suffice for the duration."He's a big part of my life."