Hill Air Force Base pilots who flew their F-16s against Iraq last week hit the targets at night, using infrared equipment to watch the smart bombs explode. Infrared energy erupts when the bombs go off, "so it washes out your view," said Lt. Col. Kurt Dittmer.
"The whole airplane lights up. That's very bright." The effect inside the cockpit is an explosive burst of light.Dittmer, commander of Hill's 34th Fighter Squadron, was among four squadron members interviewed by telephone on Tuesday. Since around Thanksgiving, they have been stationed at a base in the Arabian Peninsula. They may return in mid-January.
Every pilot of the 34th flew against targets inside Iraq during Operation Desert Fox, most of them taking off on two missions. Only Dittmer and one other, veterans of the 1991 gulf war, had flown in combat before.
"When it actually finally hits, there's a huge release -- you're just kind of relieved to have gotten through successfully, and now know you've hit your target," he said. For many this is the first moment when pilots realize how scared they were, he said.
It's when a pilot finds out how well he can stand up to combat. "You now know and it's complete," Dittmer said.
Flying to their targets, the F-16s encountered no anti-aircraft fire. "After the bombs hit, there was some. Some target areas were worse than others.
"Obviously, somebody's shooting at you, trying to kill you . . . You just don't know how well your training is until somebody is shooting at you."
Dittmer said the 34th did fine in combat. "They're all focused, they're all there. It was like the Superbowl. They were standing on either side of the walkways as the pilots were coming out, and they were doing high-fives."
In 1996, members of the 34th were injured when terrorists blew up the Khobar Towers housing complex in Saudi Arabia. In addition, 19 Air Force members in other units were killed. Last week's sorties helped many of the squadron find closure, he said.
"We've vindicated the deaths of those 19 airmen that were killed," Dittmer said.
Dittmer keeps in touch with his wife, Julie Oxford, and sons ages 7 and 17, who stayed home. He misses them during the holidays but says Utahns have really kept up the spirits of the squadron by sending cookies and other treats to their base in "Operation Feed the Rams."
On the first day of the airstrikes, Maj. Mark Coakwell and another medic were walking toward the flight line. Suddenly they heard a couple of explosions, "Boom, boom!" They looked for the smoke and fire of an attack by Saddam Hussein's forces, saw nothing, and kept walking. Then, again, "Boom, boom!"
"About that time we saw people on the compound just running," he said. Other troops were scurrying for protective gear and heading into shelters. He and his partner grabbed protective equipment from their ambulance and ducked into a nearby hardened bunker.
"The ironic part was, it turned out to be Kuwaiti aircraft flying overhead, supersonic, and creating a sonic boom. We could chuckle about it afterward, but at the time it was very realistic."
Coakwell, a senior flight surgeon, is director of base medical services on the Arabian peninsula. The clinic there was manned around the clock in case of injuries, he said.
Coakwell's wife, Kathryn, and five children are home in Utah. He wants Utahns to know, "We're in very, very capable hands here. The capabilities of all those involved are extremely good."
He wished Utahns a very merry Christmas and thanked them for their concern. Kathryn Coakwell has had visits and phone calls from Utahns checking to see how she's doing, and he is thankful for that.
Senior Master Sgt. Allen Niksich, whose job involves keeping up morale, agrees that the mood among members of the 34th is good.
"You train for something for years and years, and you finally get a chance to go do what we're really trained to do, and that gets pretty exciting for the troops," said Nicksich, who grew up in Sandy.
Airman First Class Sandra Huff was able to see the squadron's F-16s take off on sorties against Iraq. Standing outside the building where she works, "you could see the afterburner, and it looked really neat in the night sky," she said.
Huff's message for the people back home: "Just enjoy a good Christmas . . . and keep us in your prayers."