The Sunnyvale Sun
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Airmen return home from Afghanistan
By Cody Kraatz
Capt. Damon Foss and five other California Air National Guardsmen emerged from a massive military transport and walked across the tarmac. Their beards, some full and others scraggly, were a vestige of their three-month deployment to Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan.
"They try and look local to avoid sticking out," said Col. Wayne Albright, vice commander of the 129th Rescue Wing, based at Moffett Field, where a row of family, friends and strangers greeted them with signs and cheers on Sept. 8.
They appeared jet-lagged from the 36-hour flight and far more interested in reunions than chatting with local TV crews and reporters. About 70 airmen were expected to return home throughout the week.
"Daddy does the best tuck-ins, so they want to be tucked in," said Lisa Foss, the captain's wife, speaking for her media-shy daughters, Carley, 8, Kaitlyn, 6, and Kelsey, 2, who jockeyed for his attention with wide smiles. With another child on the way, she said she felt relieved to have him home before the baby is born.
"That would be more difficult. I feel for the mothers who have to go through that."
The Mountain View family had nothing planned for the weekend--just quality time.
Foss is an assistant commander in the 131st Rescue Squadron, a unit of elite pararescue jumpers or "PJs" who descend from helicopters on a cable into high seas or combat zones to provide the advanced medical assistance an ambulance paramedic would, but under fire and in life-threatening situations.
"They can scuba in, they can jump in. You name it, they can get on it," said Maj. Taft Aujero, 37, who returned from a three-month deployment to Afghanistan in April.
The Air Force rescue forces' motto is "So that others may live." They risk life and limb to pull downed pilots and other isolated troops out of enemy territory or combat zones and to medevac civilians around the world.
"It's a great mission. I couldn't think of a more admirable mission," said 1st Lt. Nate Nowaski, 33, who returned with Aujero. The 940-member wing has saved 558 people.
Stateside, it supports emergency services and law enforcement missions throughout California and the West. Almost all of the 129th is currently in the country, and there are no upcoming deployments.
The 129th has four C-130P Combat Shadow tankers, the dark planes with monstrous propellers that circle over the West Valley. Its six HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters can refuel from these at about 100 mph as low as 500 feet.
Aujero said rescue forces perform the same duties in California and internationally, picking up a boy in Afghanistan who was crushed by a collapsed wall or spinning up to find a hiker in the Santa Cruz mountains.
In a hairier incident, Aujero and Nowaski were sent in aboard two separate helicopters, which the airmen took with them, to rescue an Afghani interpreter who was shot.
Enemy forces were pinned in a cave 800 to 1,000 meters away, and Nowaski, a San Jose resident, provided cover fire in one helicopter while another, with Aujero, went in to pick up the interpreter.
"Our standard profile is we fly at night, at low level," said Aujero.
When the airmen return, the military, family and community groups try to give them as much support as possible, but sometimes they have to seek it out. Besides the love and support of the welcoming party at Moffett, troops get evaluations for post-traumatic symptoms. Still, a stigma persists around treatment.
Kim Ciampa sent a birthday card to her son, Staff Sgt. Andrew Ciampa, who turned 25 in Afghanistan. She said she does not agree with the negativity she sees in the news media and that welcoming troops home and supporting them is critical.
Staff Sgt. Joseph Zhang, a 129th member who works in communications, was waiting for his brother, senior airman Lance Zhang.
"For me this is what we do. Going out is going out," he said. "It's not really hard on me, but I know it's hard on his family."
To learn more about the 129th Rescue Wing, visit www.129rqw.ca.ang.af.mil.
