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| ZAMBOANGA, Philippines — Air Force special operators successfully ended their Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines tour in this city on the southern Philippines island of Mindanao.
After seven months on alert, the airmen, from of the 17th Special Operations Squadron, Kadena Air Base, Japan, said their tour, which began in January, was far from boring. In addition to medical evacuation standby duty, squadron MC-130P Combat Shadow aircraft flew more than 180 sorties supporting Joint Task Force-510. The joint task force helped train, assist and advise Philippine forces so they can better deal with terrorist groups like Abu Sayyaff - afiliated with Osama Bin Laden’s al Qaeda terrorist network - that operate on the island nation. Kadena airmen flew airdrop missions, helped infiltrate and extract ground forces, refueled helicopters and carried out search and rescue missions and repatriations. Capt. Dan Murray, a squadron pilot, and his crew flew nearly 80 missions in their Combat Shadows supporting task force operations. “We were all affected by September 11th and were happy to support special operations units on the ground in Zamboanga and Basilan Island,” he said. Basilan is a short flight from Zamboanga. Murray said the squadron’s biggest challenge was the operations tempo. Most of the unit’s troops were in the Philippines more than 120 days in the first six months of 2002. “It’s been rough on the families, and at times we were short at some crew positions,” he said. Murray said his most memorable missions came during the period following the crash of an Army Chinook helicopter in late February. “There were two pararescuemen on that flight from our sister squadron,” he said. Master Sgt. William McDaniel II and Staff Sgt. Juan Ridout, pararescuemen with the 320th Special Tactics Squadron, died when the Army MH-47 Chinook helicopter they were on crashed Feb. 22. Eight soldiers also died in the accident. They were en route from Basilan to Mactan. Murray’s crew was on alert when the chopper went down. “Our hearts sank as we ran to our plane,” he said. “Over a 36-hour span, we flew 19 hours. Unfortunately our rescue missions turned to recovery missions.” Several months later, the unit played a key role during the attempted rescue of U.S. missionaries kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf and held in the province of Zamboanga del Norte on the island of Mindanao. But the rescue attempt went awry. The terrorists killed American hostage Martin Burnham and injured his wife, Gracia. A third hostage, nurse Ediborah Yap, also died in the rescue attempt. A squadron aircraft evacuated Gracia Burnham to Manila and flew her husband’s remains to Kadena. Those were bittersweet missions, flight engineer Tech. Sgt. Dave Anderson said. “We were happy to help, but saddened that a fellow American lost his life,” he said. Anderson said his tour had its ups and downs. But he said the task force was a success. “It’s nice to read the papers from ‘Zambo’ and see the difference we made.” — Master Sgt. Michael Farris 353rd Special Operations Group Public Affairs |
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| Special ops a success in the Philippines |