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Pilots and other Air Force personnel say a professional attitude characterizes their approach to the air war.
By PAUL DE LA GARZA
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 12, 2001
WASHINGTON -- The last names of the six men are not given, their location in the war zone is undisclosed. Some of them are living in tents. All of them are U.S. servicemen waging the air war on Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.
They load bombs onto U.S. fighter jets, fly the jets over Afghanistan and drop the bombs on their targets. They write poignant slogans on the bombs and planes: Todd Beamer. NYPD We Remember.
Beamer was a passenger on United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania.
Yet, in a conference call arranged by the Pentagon with reporters Thursday, they spoke of war without emotion.
It's a job, they said, like any other. It's what they've been trained to do.
"You don't really have enough time to contemplate what's going on," said a major, identified as Ace, who commands a B-1 bomber involved in a series of sorties over terrain sometimes mountainous, sometimes flat.
Asked what he thought about the bombing during his down time, Major Ace refused to budge. "At that point, I'm exhausted," he said. "You really don't have any time for emotions at that time."
Since the airstrikes began on Sunday, the operational tempo has been steady, with morale high, say fighter pilots and ground crews. In fact, the ground crews, armed with American flags, have been cheering the pilots on as they take off in their aircraft.
"The adrenaline rush is still there," Major Ace said. "We're starting to get into a routine, but not much."
"We're here pretty much to protect you guys," said Staff Sgt. Michael, one of the Air Force crew members helping to keep American jets in the sky as they bomb targets inside Afghanistan. The mission, he said, is to keep terrorism in check, "to keep it from ever happening again."
The Pentagon cited security in withholding the full names and locations of the six men interviewed, and it also asked the group not to discuss specific military operations.
As the first week of America at war wrapped up, however, the picture that emerged from this interview and previous ones was of a well-trained fighting machine doing its job. Indeed, since the start of the air war, some pilots have said that the training they receive at home is tougher than the sorties over Afghanistan.
"This is what America's citizens expect us to be able to do," Woodstock, the lead pilot Sunday on a B-52 strike, said in an earlier interview. "In peacetime, we prepare for these eventualities."
On Thursday, speaking matter-of-factly during the half-hour conference call, the airmen talked about love of country and love of family.
They even talked about wartime cafeteria food.
"It's good," Staff Sgt. Frank said.
At one point during the interview, bagpipe music could be heard on the line, prompting rare laughter from the group.
At a news briefing Thursday, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said U.S. airstrikes are targeting leaders of the al-Qaida terrorist network and the Taliban government that is harboring them in Afghanistan.
"They represent a significant part" of the military command and control facilities that U.S. bombs and missiles are striking, he said.
Ground crews, meanwhile, have been working 12-hour shifts. The crews, who load the bombs onto the aircraft and do maintenance, say they're getting plenty of rest, with time to e-mail and even call home.
"There's a lot of hard work," said Staff Sgt. Brad, "but the mood is really good for all of us."
In the tradition of the Air Force, the crews have been engaging in what's known as "nose art," christening aircraft with names or messages. Crew members have also drawn cartoon characters on some of the bombs. They declined to say which ones.
While not dwelling on it, the airmen said they had thought about Thursday being the one-month anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Interviews with other pilots and their on-board crews immediately after the air raids began underscored their steely determination.
Vinnie, who operates the radar on a B-1 to make sure the bomb hits its target, admitted to a case of the jitters before a mission gets under way.
"We keep the cockpit professional and quiet," he said. "We have a lot of more important things to worry about than making emotional comments."
Still, boys will be boys.
Asked to describe what it was like being in the plane once President Bush gave the order to attack, Vinnie said, "It felt like being a football player on Super Bowl Day."