By By Craig Ziemba / guest columnist
April 6, 2003
When I got home a couple of Saturday nights ago, there was a message on the answering machine. It was the call we Guardsmen were half dreading and half expecting. Thirty-six hours later I was sitting in the back of a KC-135 between a cell phone technician and a pharmaceutical rep and across from three airline pilots headed to the Middle East.
Since the 186th Air Refueling Wing returned home after flying missions in the Afghan War six months ago, life had been great, but we knew that sooner or later America would have to head back to the Persian Gulf to remove the threat of Saddam Hussein. That time has come, and the Magnolia Militia has answered the call.
Like a bad case of dj vu, I found myself flying over Iraq again. My last mission here was several years ago when I was on the receiving end of a KC-135 in my A-6 Intruder. In a quirk of fate, tonight I refueled F-14s and F-18s off of the same carrier that I had once led student naval aviators to on my wing.
Half of our Navy's tailhookers were trained in Meridian, and this week they're working hand in hand with the Mississippi Guard to win the war. It made me proud to think that no city in America our size contributes more to the defense of freedom than we do.
Armada
I wish the folks back home could see their sons in action over Iraq. All night long an unbelievable armada of fighters, bombers and refuelers streak across the sky. They are maintained by kids barely out of high school and flown by a mixture of fresh-faced active duty kids just out of college and veteran Guard and Reserve pilots who dropped their civilian careers to be here.
My crew consists of Scud, a former Marine Harrier pilot who now works for FedEx, and Turbo, our boom operator and professional firefighter. We're not here for travel or adventure. Most of us in the unit have spent years deployed all over the world and have no desire to spend one more day away from our families than we have to. And we're certainly not here for the money.
So why would a bunch guys leave home for no one knows how long to fly all night missions half-way around the world? Perhaps it's because we are part of something much bigger than ourselves.
Since the Revolution, citizen soldiers have fought alongside the regular force in all of our nation's wars. Whether they were Minutemen fighting for independence at Yorktown or Guard pilots flying combat support over Afghanistan, their motivation is the same.
Love of country
Love of country and a commitment to do their duty compels them to serve during war so that their families and their countrymen can enjoy peace.
Duty, honor, and country are powerful motivators, but there's something else that factors into the equation that's hard to put into words.
As I lie here awake tonight listening to five guys snoring (very loudly I might add) in a room half the size of my bedroom at home, I can't help but feel a bond with them that only comes from shared sacrifices.
Ours may be small compared to the price paid by others, but the fact that each of us has given part of our lives for our country creates a brotherhood that is strong and real.
The next time you drive by Key Field or watch red and white jets headed back to Naval Air Station Meridian, remember us in your prayers and ask the Lord to watch over our families and bring us home to them soon.
Craig Ziemba is a pilot who lives in Meridian. He wrote this column from an overseas location. Letters to members of the 186th ARW may be sent to the following address:
186 Guard member
401 AEW/EOG
APO AE 09805