KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- The United State Air Force has a long legacy of service in the Gulf Coast region. Keesler Air Force Base itself is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, marking a long tradition of keeping the skies above the Mississippi Gulf Coast safe for its citizens. The U.S. Air Force Reserve, specifically the 403rd Wing, has played an active role in that heritage of serving the Gulf Coast community for several decades.
The mission of the wing, according to 403rd Wing cCmmander Col. Frank Amodeo, is to deliver diverse global capabilities by empowered Airmen serving with pride, agility and teamwork. More than 1,500 reservists, including 380 full-time air reserve technicians, serve in the wing, which provides tactical airlift support and aerial weather reconnaissance.
“We talk about diverse global capabilities because, in addition to providing tactical airlift and airdrop and weather reconnaissance, we are also now going to be able to provide aeromedical evacuation,” said Amodeo. “Other diverse global capabilities include aerial port operations, security force operations, logistics operations, services, medical and so forth. We provide all those different capabilities to combatant commanders around the globe.”
While the 403rd didn’t arrive at Keesler until November 1983, the wing actually traces its roots back to the West Coast of the United States where it was activated as the 403rd Troop Carrier, Medium, June 27, 1949, in Portland, Oregon. Like other carrier units in the Air Force Reserve, it was charged with ferrying troops and supplies wherever they may be needed around the world in support of the Air Force mission. It wasn’t until 1971 that the 403rd was given a tactical airlift mission and equipped with the C-130A cargo aircraft, the first model of the aircraft currently assigned to the 403rd Wing’s flying squadrons today.
The U.S. Air Force Reserve has had a presence at Keesler since 1973, when the 815th was reactivated here as part of the 920th Tactical Airlift Group. Then called the 815th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, the unit did the weather reconnaissance mission from 1976 until the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron took over that mission in 1993.
Today, the 815th Airlift Squadron “Flying Jennies,” is tasked with transporting or airdropping people, supplies, vehicles, and equipment anywhere around the world, and providing aeromedical/refugee evacuation when necessary. The Jennies are currently the only Air Force Reserve unit flying the latest model of the C-130: the squadron has 10 C-130J cargo aircraft.
Since 2004, the Jennies have deployed several times in support of various missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Senior Master Sgt. Darren Bannister, assistant superintendent of the 815th AS loadmaster section. Their most recent deployment in 2013 to the Middle East saw them flying missions in and around Qatar, Afghanistan and East Africa.
The 403rd Wing is also home to the 53rd WRS, also known as the “Hurricane Hunters.” The Hurricane Hunter aircrews fly 10 WC-130J aircraft during the tropical storm season to improve storm track modeling for the National Hurricane Center. In the winter, the aircrews fly their WC-130Js ahead of threatening winter storms to improve forecasting. Originally activated in 1944, and moved to Keesler Air Force Base in 1993, the 53rd WRS is the only military unit in the world flying weather reconnaissance on a routine basis.
“The biggest part of that mission is the hurricane hunting,” said Lt. Col. Matthew Muha, 53rd WRS commander. “Initially we’ll go out and do a low-level investigation to see if there is any cyclonic activity – any winds starting to rotate – and to take other data, like the temperature of the water and wave movement, to see if the storm is building.”
The National Hurricane Center is the agency that actually tasks the Hurricane Hunters with missions to fly into the storms if and as they progress from a tropical depression into a tropical storm, and then finally into a hurricane.
“If it ends up turning into a hurricane, we’re going to go in there to add more data to those (storm tracking) models (generated by the National Hurricane Center), such as air temperature, wind direction and speed, and water temperature at the surface,” said Muha. “That gets fed into (the NHC) computer models to give them a better idea of where the storm is going.”
The third flying squadron in the 403rd Wing was just gained and is the 36th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron responsible for transporting around the globe patients in need of life-saving care. Flight Nurses and Medical Technicians are trained to work with Critical Care Air Transport Teams or alone and utilize fixed-wing Air Force aircraft including the C-130, C-17 and KC-135.
Among the several groups and squadrons that fall under the command of the 403rd Wing are the 403rd Operations Group, 403rd Mission Support Group, 403rd Maintenance Group and the 403rd Aeromedical Staging Squadron. Each of these have their own component units designed to support the mission of the 403rd Wing.
Col. Edward Chad Segura, 403rd MSG commander, said the mission support group provides agile combat support for the warfighter and the wing through its component units such as security forces, logistics, force support for the wing’s personnel, communications, human resources, and lodging among other tasks, such as supporting both of wing’s flying squadrons.
“We obviously also support the hurricane mission and the tactical mission of the 815th, as well as any other mission that comes into play (for the 403rd Wing),” said Segura.
In order to keep the planes of those squadrons flying through the air, the 403rd Maintenance Group ensures the C-130s are in tip-top shape while they’re still on the ground.
“Our job in maintenance is to provide air-worthy, mission-capable aircraft at any given moment,” said Col. Jay Johnson, 403rd Maintenance Group commander. “Maintenance is really the mainstay for making sure that the aircraft are mission-ready, safe and reliable, so that the aircrews can fly their missions and get back home safely.”
Among one of the major changes that occurred to the wing over the past few years involved the 815th Airlift Squadron. In March 2013, the Air Force announced they were scheduled to inactivate and their planes would transfer from Keesler AFB. However, a 2015 report from the Secretary of the Air Force reversed that decision, and now the Flying Jennies will continue to call Keesler and the Gulf Coast community their home.
Amodeo also noted many of the positive influences Keesler Air Force Base and the 403rd Wing itself has on the Mississippi Gulf Coast community.
“In addition to the economic impact of more than $100 million from the 403rd Wing alone, the impact on the community is really two-fold: the community provides phenomenal support for our Citizen Airmen and the Reserve mission, which provides a cost-effective force for the combatant commander. We also give back by our Airmen living and volunteering within the community. They’re volunteers by nature – many of them live and work where they serve, and they also deploy globally, so we are all a part of that greater Air Force mission,” said Amodeo. “I continue to hope we continue to have the great relationship with the local community, the chambers of commerce, the city leaders, our federal officials and our civic leaders. That bond will continue to keep us successful in the future.”