919th SOW Honored In Florida

You don't fly for it, but you don't turn it down when it comes your way. Members of the USAF 919th Special Operations Wing received decorations that ranged from Distinguished Flying Crosses to Bronze and Silver Stars Saturday. The reservists were recognized for their time in the air over Afghanistan and Iraq.

The unit was activated by President Bush just after the 9/11 attacks. Since then, the MC-130E Combat Talon I and MC-130 P Combat Shadow aircrews flew more than 1,700 sorties, logged more than 13,000 flight hours and pumped more than 3 million pounds of fuel to special operations helicopters in midflight. Their mission is so critical to flight operations and military intelligence that they've probably not had to buy a drink ever since.

Lt. Gen. James E. Sherrard III, responsible for all Air Force Reserves around the world, pinned two Distinguished Flying Crosses on the lapel of Maj. Randall Nicholson. On Oct. 19, 2001, Nicholson, pilot pilot and one of a crew of 10, entered hostile territory near Kandahar, Afghanistan, providing fuel backup for helicopters. The crew's efforts led to the successful landing of the first U.S. boots on the ground in Afghanistan. The efforts earned Nicholson and his crew their first medal. Nov. 4, 2001, Nicholson and his comrades-in-arms flew their MC-130E into hostile airspace and performed several refueling missions. They flew in the dark at 500 feet AGL over the mountains of Afghanistan. Their night-vision goggles were about all that kept them from getting up close and personal with a lot of Afghan rocks.

If that's not enough to get your blood pumping, imagine having to refuel another aircraft in such a configuration. Take a helicopter, for instance.

"If I bank right, he's got to bank right," said Nicholson, who resides in Navarre. "It's all he can do to keep up. He's got his throttle to the wall and just shaking. I've got my flaps down and I'm 3 to 5 knots above stall speed. "Then when you get engaged by the enemy, it gets real exciting."

After his second deployment to Afghanistan, Nicholson got word he had just 30 days to pack for Iraq. The night before he left, he learned that his wife, Nancy, was pregnant. For five years, the couple had been hoping for their first child.

"Hopefully everything the reservists have done has made the world safer, not only for my child, but for the children in Afghanistan and Iraq," Nicholson told the Pensacola News-Journal. "Most of them are just like you and me. They want a better life for the children and families."

FMI: www.afrc.af.mil/919sow/about919/about919sow.htm